


The Cascade Effect

by Sinopa_Ariianna



Category: NCIS
Genre: AU/AR/AT, Angst, CharDeath(minor)(past), Comedy, Family, M/M, Romance, Slash, get-together
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-12-22
Updated: 2013-03-21
Packaged: 2017-11-22 01:39:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 28
Words: 76,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/604405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sinopa_Ariianna/pseuds/Sinopa_Ariianna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One Event, One Minor change in the way something happens can change a lot of events in the future.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Unbetaed at the moment so all mistakes are mine.

Disclaimer: I don’t own so no sense suing.

AN: I KNOW, I know many of those reading my fic L’amore are probably wondering why the hell I’m starting ANOTHER fic when that one is unfinished. The reason? I have hit a road Block on L’amore and am hoping that working on something else will help to destroy said road Block.

** Prologue **

_ 2001 _

“I got it” Gibbs says to the Agent that accompanied Tony DiNozzo off the elevator as he walks towards them.

“You Made It.”

“Yeah. Wow, I’m not a big fan of the orange and the glare off that sklylight’s ridiculous” Tony says as he looks around.

Gibbs setS his coffee mug down and motions for Tony to follow him as he sets off down the hall and around a corner.

“You gonna ask?” Tony asks Gibbs as they round the corner.

“Nope”

“I’m leaving it alone. It was wrong, way wrong but…”

“It’s your partner.” Gibbs tells him as they walk towards their destination.

“Ex-patner.” I’m not going back to Baltimore. I can’t. I don’t know what I’m gonna do; maybe being a cop isn’t for me.” Tony says, a bit of self-deprecation in his tone.

*wack*

“Hah!” Tony stops walking and turns to Gibbs.

 “Did you just physically assault me?”

“I don’t have a lot of rules, but rule number five is you don’t waste good. You’re good.” Gibbs tells Tony as he looks straight into the younger man’s eyes.

“Thanks” Tony smiles as he rubs the back of head. “Don’t make a habit of that.” He says, a slight smirk on his face.

Gibbs feels a smile tugging at his lips and so pats Tony’s cheek a few times before pointing over the other man’s shoulder at the door behind him and as Tony turns around to look he start walking back down the hall before he decides to do something completely stupid.

Tony smiles as he turns to Gibbs’ retreating form.”Heh. Did I mention you’re a devious man Gibbs?”

“Boy, I got vision and the rest of the world is wearing bifocals.”

“Butch Cassidy. Nice!” Tony calls out to Gibbs as he turns the corner.

“Huh.” He says as he looks at the door that says Human Resources Agent Applicant Division then opens the door.

_ 6 months later-2002 _

Tony groans as him cell phone begins to ring. He looks at the clock on the nightstand and grabs the phone.

“DiNozzo?” he answers gruffly. There’s a pause on the other end of the line before dispatch gives him the details of their next case. He knew why the pause, he’d sounded much like Gibbs would normally. Though who could blame him, he’d been having a very nice dream when he’d been awoken, so yeah he was going to be a bit grouchy. He grabbed the pen and paper before hanging up and calling his Boss.

“Gibbs”

“Boss, Dead Petty officer, Rock creek park.” Tony says.

Gibbs grunts and the phone goes dead. Thankfully, even after only six months of working under Gibbs, Tony had already learned what most those Grunts of Gibbs’ meant. That one had meant he’d be there in twenty so Tony himself had better already be there. Tony rushed around throwing on Jeans and a shirt, grabbed his bag, gun, badge and the knife he’d very quickly learned never to be without.

When he arrived, he groaned. It looked like it was going to be a very long day. Wendy would NOT be pleased. Oh well at least Tony no longer had to worry about Gibbs’ ex-wife Stephanie blowing up his phone like crazy since the divorce had been finalized a few weeks previous.

_ 2 months later-2002 _

The day had started out fine. Tony was getting married to Wendy after 8 months of stressing over everything. Of course he’d originally planned to ask Danny to be his best man but, after finding out that he was Dirty he had no intentions of wanting to see the man again. Instead he’d asked Gibbs, who had quickly become not only his Boss, but also a stand-offish friend when Tony had needed to vent. The headslaps hadn’t stopped, they had actually grown in frequency the closer the wedding day got.

Gibbs was helping him straighten his tux when there was a knock at the door to his dressing area. Gibbs went over and opened it while Tony finished up.

“It’s Time, DiNozzo.” Gibbs told him as he left and took his place at the altar. Tony wasn’t far behind. Once Tony was in place the preacher gave the signal and the Bridal March began to play. Tony stood there nervously waiting for the doors to open and Wendy to come out. As the minutes ticked by Tony began to worry. He looked at Gibbs who gave a barely noticeable shrug then turned back to the doors the bride was to enter through.

After twenty minutes and still no bride Gibbs turned to the groomsman next to him and whispered into the man’s ear “Go check on the Bride, make sure she’s okay.”

Less than five minutes later the man came back and told Gibbs something. Tony watched the proceedings with curiosity and a bit of worry.

Gibbs turned to Tony and the look on his face had his heart in his throat.

“Tony, Wendy’s not here. Briedsmaids said she never showed up or called but her father said he talked to her on his way here and she seemed fine.” He whispered into his ear. Tony nodded dumbstruck and just stood there in shock.

Gibbs turned to the preacher who was watching everything with a look akin to pity. Gibbs growled in anger before walking over to the man and whispering to him.

“Bride’s a no-show. Tell Everybody to go home.”

As the preacher cleared his throat Gibbs grabbed Tony by the back of his neck to snap him out of his shock. “Let’s go DiNozzo.” He said and dragged the younger man out of the chapel and to his car.

Tony was still in shock but that shock quickly turned to anger.

“Just drop me off at my apartment Boss.”

“Ya sure, DiNozzo?” Gibbs asked.

“Yeah. I’ll be fine.”

Gibbs shrugged and headed to Tony’s apartment in DC before heading home himself.

_ 2003-Before Kate _

Tony groaned as he woke up. Things had been much more interesting since his wedding with Wendy had been called off. Okay since he’d been left at the altar by her. He’d made some wise-cracks that it was usually men who left the women standing at the altar but otherwise he was fine.

Two months after he’d joined NCIS a new lab tech had started. Abby Scuito. He’d unintentionally pissed her off within the first week but had managed to make it up to her after he’d found out what her favourite rose was. He’d bought her two dozen and had had them delivered with an apology card he’d handwritten. She’d still waited another three days before forgiving him. They had become fast friends once she had though.

It had now been over a year since he’d joined NCIS and he was enjoying it. This was a job he could see himself working at for a very long time. The cases were varied and interesting. It was never a dull moment, stressful yes but dull, no.

He had no idea just how interesting things would become in the coming weeks.

TBC…


	2. Chapter One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One Event, One Minor change in the way something happens can change a lot of events in the future.

Disclaimer: I don’t own so no sense suing.

AN: Bear with me when it comes to the cases. They will play an integral part of this fic, even though I have trouble writing them in a condensed version. Hopefully I’ve managed to do that here.

** Chapter One **

It had been almost two years at NCIS by the time Kate Todd had been added to their team. It was turning out to be a rather interesting time with Kate around. Sure, Tony missed the days when it was just him and Gibbs but then there were times he didn’t misss them too.

With another member added to their team it was easier to delegate the work because they had more people but then there were times Tony missed working alongside of his boss. The small moments they had were now often interrupted by Kate. Sometimes Tony just didn’t understand that woman. Thankfully Abby understood and was able to clear things up for him usually.

It was already turning out to be an interesting day. They were being flown out to the Enterprise to figure out Why a Petty Officer was showing up negative for meth but had had a reaction that only a chronic user would.

Tony and Kate were talking as they walked into the bullpen about the Agent Afloat Stan Burley. It seems he was the one that had worked for Gibbs before Tony. It was amazing that after five years Burley wasn’t in straight jacket. Unfortunately for him Gibbs heard that comment so he’d had to think fast to avoid Gibbs giving him a headslap.

Tony watched as Abby walked over to Gibbs who was on the phone and began typing something on his computer. Whatever she’d typed had the man smiling.

_‘God, he’s sexy when he smiles’_ Tony thought, making sure not to voice that thought. He wondered if Stan Burley knew the secret Tony did.

Shaking off the thoughts about Gibbs he headed out following said man.

When they arrived at the COD that would take them to the ship him and Gibbs began to tell Kate what she could expect on the ship. Hwo to get around and about how confusing it could be. He shared a look with the man as Kate said she’d be fine. Tony was the first to board the COD and as he was he thought he’d felt something brush against his ass. He passed it off as his gear as he seated himself followed by Gibbs then Kate. He wondered to himself if Kate would pass out on landing, then they were off.

Tony could hear Gibbs telling Kate what to do when they landed. He hid a chuckle at the fact that Kate had held her breath as they landed. He’d heard it whoosh out of her.

Tony didn’t like Burley. The man seemed to be trying to one-up him and it was beginning to piss him off. He’d barely had any time with Gibbs and it was strange for Tony. He wondered if maybe there was something more to Burley and Gibbs’ relationship than what him and Gibbs had. He doubted it though, since Gibbs had been married to three women and he was definitely straight.

When Kate tried to give some advice on the differences between his and Gibbs’ relationship and Gibbs and Burley’s relationship he wasn’t sure. The man had worked for Gibbs longer than Tony had. Of course she also had to be a bit spiteful by bringing up his pack work history. He had no intentions of leaving NCIS. He liked his job and most of the people he worked with, Gibbs included. It wasn’t until the case had been solved that he realized just how much quicker Gibbs had trusted him.

“You know, in the two years I’ve worked for Gibbs, he’s never shaken my hand once. Never.” Tony said.

“I was in the office two years before he even looked me in the eye.” Burley told him.     

“Really?”

“And three years before he called me by name.  Four ‘till he got it right.  By then I’d actually gotten used to Steve.  He must really like you.” Stan told him as they shook hands.    

“Thanks.” Tony said, realizing just how much Gibbs must have liked him since he’d trusted him a lot more than Burley it seemed. It was a very comforting thought.

Their take-off from the boat caused Kate to pass out which Tony planned to remember the next time she started in on him. Thankfully they wouldn’t be returning too soon. Or so Tony thought.

Their next case took Gibbs and Kate to the Submarine Philadelphia via the Enterprise. The Petty officer that had been found in a drum filled with acid was a hectic case. Tony was left on land at Norfolk Naval Base with a green Agent Timothy McGee. Him and McGee, along with Ducky and Abby, were working the case from land whilst Gibbs and Kate worked from the submarine.

Their big break was when they realized that the file had been altered. Tony and McGee headed to a possible suspect’s house.

They looked around the main part and didn’t find nothing. They were ready to call it quits when he noticed a blue line coming from the wall leading to the bookcase McGee was seated in front of. He asked McGee what it was and then they proceeded to move the bookcase. The room they found was filled with posters and clippings about Sonar from Subs supposedly killing Whales. Seems the suspect was tied to the protestors that had been in-front of the Naval Base.

“I guess flying toasters would have been too much to ask for.” Tony said.

“Let’s see what we have here.” McGee said as he began typing rapidly on the suspect’s computer. Tony’s eyes widened.

“You’ve taken computer classes.”

“Masters in computer forensics, MIT.”

“I see.”

“Well, he’s definitely an eco-terrorist. He’s looking for retribution for the whales.” McGee said before a rapid beeping noise got his attention. “Oh, this isn’t good.” He said while looking at the plans on the computer.

“What?”

“Isopropyl methylphosphonofluoridate. B.S. in Bio-medical Engineering, Johns Hopkins. You?”

“Ohio State, Phys Ed. I was a jock. What is that in my language?” Tony told the younger agent before asking what he was talking about.

“Sarin gas. He’s planning to introduce it into a submarine’s air conditioning system. Doesn’t say how.”

“It wouldn’t take a lot, would it?” Tony asked, holding the small cylinder he’d found up to inspect and show McGee.

“Must have been a prototype.”

“If it was filled with Sarin gas, and distributed through the air system?” Tony asked.

“It could kill the entire crew.”

TBC…

AN: Yes, I know. Evil place to leave it but I needed a good place to stop and this seemed like the best one. Plus there’s a BIG surprise in the next chapter. One of the several twists planned for this fic. Comments, constructive criticism and review are greatly appreciated. Flames will be fed to my dragon and flamers will be sent to Briarcliff Manor.


	3. Chapter Two

**_ Previously  _ **

_“Oh, this isn’t good.” He said while looking at the plans on the computer._

_“What?”_

_“Isopropyl methylphosphonofluoridate. B.S. in Bio-medical Engineering, Johns Hopkins. You?”_

_“Ohio State, Phys Ed. I was a jock. What is that in my language?” Tony told the younger agent before asking what he was talking about._

_“Sarin gas. He’s planning to introduce it into a submarine’s air conditioning system. Doesn’t say how.”_

_“It wouldn’t take a lot, would it?” Tony asked, holding the small cylinder he’d found up to inspect and show McGee._

_“Must have been a prototype.”_

_“If it was filled with Sarin gas, and distributed through the air system?” Tony asked._

_“It could kill the entire crew.”_

** Chapter Two **

 

Tony started cursing in his head. That was NOT good. He wouldn’t let that happen. He wouldn’t let Gibbs die. He didn’t want to have to explain to Kelly how her dad died. He could remember exactly how he’d found out about Gibbs’ Daughter. He knew that only he knew about Kelly. It was a secret that Tony and Gibbs shared. Especially since his meeting Kelly was a result of a secret that not even HR knew.

_%Flashback To 2002 %_

_The day had started out fine. Tony was getting married to Wendy after 8 months of stressing over everything. Of course he’d originally planned to ask Danny to be his best man but, after finding out that he was Dirty he had no intentions of wanting to see the man again. Instead he’d asked Gibbs, who had quickly become not only his Boss, but also a stand-offish friend when Tony had needed to vent. The headslaps hadn’t stopped, they had actually grown in frequency the closer the wedding day got._

_Gibbs was helping him straighten his tux when there was a knock at the door to his dressing area. Gibbs went over and opened it while Tony finished up._

_“It’s Time, DiNozzo.” Gibbs told him as he left and took his place at the altar. Tony wasn’t far behind. Once Tony was in place the preacher gave the signal and the Bridal March began to play. Tony stood there nervously waiting for the doors to open and Wendy to come out. As the minutes ticked by Tony began to worry. He looked at Gibbs who gave a barely noticeable shrug then turned back to the doors the bride was to enter through._

_After twenty minutes and still no bride Gibbs turned to the groomsman next to him and whispered into the man’s ear “Go check on the Bride, make sure she’s okay.”_

_Less than five minutes later the man came back and told Gibbs something. Tony watched the proceedings with curiosity and a bit of worry._

_Gibbs turned to Tony and the look on his face had his heart in his throat._

_“Tony, Wendy’s not here. Briedsmaids said she never showed up or called but her father said he talked to her on his way here and she seemed fine.” He whispered into his ear. Tony nodded dumbstruck and just stood there in shock._

_Gibbs turned to the preacher who was watching everything with a look akin to pity. Gibbs growled in anger before walking over to the man and whispering to him._

_“Bride’s a no-show. Tell Everybody to go home.”_

_As the preacher cleared his throat Gibbs grabbed Tony by the back of his neck to snap him out of his shock. “Let’s go DiNozzo.” He said and dragged the younger man out of the chapel and to his car._

_Tony was still in shock but that shock quickly turned to anger._

_“Just drop me off at my apartment Boss.”_

_“Ya sure, DiNozzo?” Gibbs asked._

_“Yeah. I’ll be fine.”_

_Gibbs shrugged and headed to Tony’s apartment in DC before heading home himself._

_Gibbs was once again down in his basement when his phone rang._

_“Gibbs.”_

_~“Uhm…Sorry to disturb you, sir. Tony DiNozzo’s here. He asked for you to be called since he’s to drunk to drive home and we are refusing to let him walk there.” A man said. There was loud music in the background._

_“Where’s he at. I’ll come get him.”_

_~“Crimson and Clover Bar*”_

_“I’ll be there in twenty.” Then he hung up the phone, ran up the stairs and grabbed his keys, wallet, badge and gun before heading out the door to pick up his wayward agent. He should have known that he wasn’t fine as he’d claimed. He’d been stood up at his own wedding after all._

_Less than twenty minutes later he had parked and gotten a very drunk DiNozzo into his car before heading home._

_“Where ya goin’ bosh? My ‘parshmens teh osher way.” Tony slurred from the passenger seat of Gibbs truck._

_“Not going there DiNozzo. Shouldn’t be left alone. Who knows what kinda trouble you’ll get inta.” He told the younger man. There was no response. He shot a quick look only to find DiNozzo passed out._

_~~Following Morning~~_

_Tony woke up with a pounding headache and the urge to piss. He took stock of his surroundings and realized he wasn’t in his apartment nor his bed._

_“what the hell’d I do last night?” he mumbled to himself._

_He heard the door open and looked up, startled to see a teenaged girl standing there staring at him in shock. Then her eyebrow rose much like Gibbs would at times._

_“Who the hell are you? And what are you doing in my dad’s bed?” the teenager asked him, her voice causing his head to hurt worse._

_“Tony and I have no clue how I got here.” He told her, receiving another raised eyebrow at that._

_“Kelly, quit interrogating DiNozzo and get your ass down here!” was heard from somewhere below them._

_Tony’s eyes widened when the teen replied “Yes, Daddy.” Before rushing away. He groaned as his brain tried to process the fact that his Boss apparently had a daughter._

_Five minutes later Kelly was back with a tray and some pills._

_“Dad’s gone to the store. Thought you might like some toast and aspirin.” She said as she set the tray down on the nightstand before holding out her hand revealing two white pills. He grabbed them and popped them In his mouth before taking the proferred glass of water and draining it._

_“Thanks” he mumbled, still confused as to how he’d ended up at his boss’s house let alone in the man’s bed._

_“Bathroom’s through there if you need it.” She said, pointing to a door off to the right. He nodded, got up and headed there since his bladder was screaming at him by now._

_When he came back out Kelly was still there._

_“So Gibbs is your dad huh?”_

_“Yeah.”_

_He nodded, unsure of what to say next. They sat in silence while Tony ate the dry toast. Taking the tray once he was done she motioned for him to follow her. Once downstairs she pointed to the couch. “Sit.” She ordered before taking the tray to the kitchen. He shook his head but sat anyway. It seems that Gibbs’ daughter expected orders to be followed like her dad did._

_When she came back in she had another glass of water for him and a mug of coffee for herself. She handed him the water and sat down on the chair and faced him._

_When Gibbs got back Tony and Kelly were talking about music and movies. He shook his head at the two. He should have known better than to let Tony and Kelly meet. Both were movie buffs and nothing good could come of that._

_After Gibbs had explained why Tony was in his bed instead of the couch(in case he woke up in the middle of the night to puke) he’d taken the younger agent home and that was that._

_%End Flashback%_

Snapping himself out of his reverie he headed outside with McGee. They had to get this information to Gibbs ASAP.

After several worrying hours later they were all back in the bullpen safe and sound. McGee showed up to hand in his report to Gibbs personally, which Tony had to pick on the junior agent for. Finding out McGee had a lunch(Dinner?) date with Abby he headed for the elevator with McGee in tow to introduce him to Abby. He was left speechless by McGee’s comment about getting a tattoo on his ass; hopefully Kate wouldn’t mention it, though he’d heard Gibbs tell her what had made him speechless. Though the only reason it had was because McGee didn’t seem the type and, despite his voicing a protest over tattoo’s he knew they’d all be surprised if they knew about his own drunken little dare and the results of it.

TBC…

*Crimson and Clover Bar-I got the name from a song. Cookies for those who can guess the song Title AND Artist of the song.

AN: Comments, constructive criticsm and Reviews are greatly appreciated  and welcomed; flames however will be fed to my dragon and flamers sent to Briarcliff Manor. Hope you all liked this first of several twists. Yeah, I’m not too proud to beg for feedback.


	4. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbetaed so any and all mistakes are mine.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own so no sense suing.

** Chapter Three **

Their next few cases had been interesting but the case that had caused him the most worry to date was the guy shooting Marine recruiters. It wasn’t the fact that a sniper was taking them out but the way they planned to catch the guy. When Gibbs had suggested that he would go under as a marine recruiter Tony’s heart had just about stopped. He wondered if Kelly knew what her dad was doing. If she did he couldn’t see her wanting Gibbs to risk himself like that.

“What if he succeeds?” Tony asked Kate and Gibbs after Kate had explained why they had decided that Gibbs needed to be out in the open.

Gibbs’ response “He Won’t” wasn’t very re-assuring.

His worry still didn’t stop him from discreetly perusing Gibbs in his Dress Blue’s. The man certainly was sexy, he could see why he’d been married three times.

After making sure the comm’s worked all they could do was wait. After several hours and several kids going in Tony had to comment.

“What are you doing?  Giving away free X-boxes in there? That’s the tenth kid this morning.” Tony asked Kate.

“He’s really good at this. I’m even thinking of signing up.” Kate told him.

“What about potential snipers?” Tony asked.

“You’ll be the first to know.” She told him.

“No, Gibbs will.” Tony said, before continuing. “Just tell me he’s still wearing his vest.”

There was silence as Kate looked at the floor near the desk Gibbs was sitting at.

“He said it was visible under his shirt.” She didn’t sound too happy.

“I knew it. If that sniper doesn’t kill him I will. Of all the stupid idiotic things.” Tony mumbled, finishing off his sandwich. _‘Hopefully Kelly doesn’t find out otherwise she’ll be on my case as well as Gibbs’ even if she does know about this op’_ he thought, keeping an eye on the recruitment office.

When it was all over Tony was relieved, despite the fact he’d shot the killer and the FBI was taking the credit yet again. He should have known that it was just the calm before the storm.

They were finishing up their reports when the elevator doors opened with a ding. Tony glanced up from his report at the same time Gibbs and Kate did to see who their visitor was.

"Where is he?” the woman growled to Tony. Raising his hand he pointed in Gibbs’ direction.

“What the **HELL** were you thinking?!?!?!? Putting yourself in the line of fire like that!!! That is one of **THE MOST STUPIDEST, IDIOTIC THINGS YOU’VE EVER DONE!!!!!!** What if the glass **HADN’T** stopped that bullet from ripping right through your head? Or you heart? Do you think that your vest can save you from a shot to the head from a **SNIPER**?!?!?” The young woman ranted.

“Kelly….”

“No, you listen to me! I am sick of you acting like you’re invincible!!!!!” Gibbs winced as she continued to rant at him.

“Kelly, I’m fine. Nothing happened and nothing would have happened.”

“Sure, you probably didn’t wear your vest either.” The look on his face told her everything she needed to know.

“You went **WITHOUT YOUR VEST?!?!?!** ” she screamed. Tony let loose a quiet snicker, it wasn’t every day that you saw Gibbs getting berated.

“And You!” she whipped around to face Tony before starting in on him too. “You’re supposed to be the one with common sense! You should have made sure he wore his vest, Tony!”

“Hey! I wasn’t his partner on this one Kelly. Yell at Kate, she’s the one that let him go without a vest. I believe her words to me were ‘he said it could be seen through his uniform’ and I was out in the car ready to nab potential suspects.” He said, trying to turn the young woman’s anger away from him. He could see why Gibbs never told her anything, she was just as hot-headed as Gibbs himself was.

“Yeah, I also heard that **YOU** went after the suspect **ALONE** , Tony. You could have been shot, you could have been killed! You are almost as bad as my dad!”

“Kelly! Calm down, sweetie. I’m fine, DiNozzo’s fine. Nothing happened.”

“It **COULD** have, though! Do you think I want to lose my **FATHER** too????? I wish you would **TELL** me when you’re gonna run an op like this. A least give me **SOME** sort of warning, Dad.” Kelly said.

“Kelly we’re all fine. No-one was hurt. You should know by now that being an Agent is dangerous and I can’t always tell you when I or someone on my team is going to have to go undercover. Just calm down, sweetie.” Gibbs said, pulling his daughter into a hug.

Once she’d calmed down she pulled away before walking over to Tony.

“You’re not going to berate me some more are you Kelly?” he asked as she walked towards him.

“No, Silly.” She said before pulling him into a hug. “I'm glad you’re okay too.” She whispered as Tony stood there awkwardly. It certaintly wasn’t every day your Boss’s daughter hugs you in front of said boss.

“Kels, I think you’ve startled DiNozzo enough for one day.” Gibbs said with a laugh.

“Maybe.” Kelly said, pulling away from him and pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Thanks for being on my dad’s six Tony.” She told him before turning around and sitting down at her dad’s desk.

Kate was confused though. Her profile of Gibbs didn’t mention anything about children from any of his two previous marriages.*

As they left for the night Tony smiled and waved goodbye to Kelly. She’d managed to corner him before he’d left and ask him about going to see the new movie with Johnny Depp. He’d agreed only because he knew Gibbs wouldn’t be over-protective if it was him taking Kelly to see the movie instead of her going with a bunch of her friends from school.

A few cases later and Tony’s heart about stopped in his chest again. Gibbs had been shot by a cheeky terrorist. Thankfully it was a through and through and the EMT’s were on their way.

Kelly came running in with Abby and was glad that he was fine. Tony knew it was the first time that Abby was meeting Kelly. Gibbs, who was slightly out of it, was unable to introduce them so Tony did.

“Abby, Kelly. Kelly, Abby.” Tony said as he walked with the EMT’s to the ambulance.

“Boss, you okay?” Tony asked.

“Fine, DiNozzo. Need to find that bastard though.” Gibbs told him as the EMT’s loaded him into the ambulance. If it weren’t for the fact that both Kelly AND Tony would berate him for not going to the hospital Tony knew he wouldn’t be going at all.

Later that night Kelly called Tony because her dad was once again stewing over the bastard that shot him and Gerald. She’d woken to the sound of two gunshots and had managed to sneak a peek into the basement where her dad was. There was a picture of that terrorist and it looked like her dad had shot two holes into the picture.

“You know how your dad gets, Kelly. He’s like a dog with an old bone. Throw him a juicy steak to chew on and he will but once that’s gone he goes back to gnawing on that old bone. The terrorist is your dad’s old bone right now.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s just worrying sometimes. Especially when he gets to the point where he starts snapping at everyone, even me.” Kelly told him.

“It will take a while for him to get to that point. We both know that.”

“I know. Keep an eye on him for me?”

“I’ll always be on his six. You know that Kelly.”

“Thanks Tony.”

“No problem kiddo. Get some sleep, okay. Goodnight,”

“Night, Tony.”

They hung up and Tony began mulling over things in his head before falling asleep, visions of just what he’d like to do to that asshole terrorist floating around in his head.

Their next case was one fucked up case in which Tony had, once again, pretended to be disgusted by something he wasn’t. At the end of it all with Voss dead and Kate deciding to be a royal bitch by asking him what it was like to tongue a guy Tony had had to grab his gear and leave before he revealed something he didn’t want anyone to know yet, if ever. The fact that even after the case was solved she would bring it up was really beginning to piss him off. He was very close to filing a formal complaint and Gibbs knew it. He’d been talking to Kelly when Gibbs had gotten in one night shortly after the case and had overheard his complaints about Kate’s attitude and lack of respect for him as the senior field agent. Yeah, he knew part of it was because he acted like an overgrown frat boy but, that was his way of handling stress and it had helped to diffuse the tension on more than one occasion. Recently Gibbs had been riding Kate’s ass whenever she would bring up the Voss mess.

When they got called on a case of a missing marine, who was EOD, Tony knew things were gonna go sideways somehow. He should have known better than to go after a guy and trail him, alone.

He’d begged and pleaded for Gibbs to let him trail Sacco and he’d been allowed to do so. At first he’d thought Gibbs had said no but, it was just his hearing being funny after the explosion on the EOD training range. Gibbs had told him that he had to check in every hour though. Tony didn’t mind doing that.

He was in the NCIS issue sedan trailing Sacco when his phone rang.

“DiNozzo.”

_~“What’s the word?”_ Gibbs asked him.

Sacco just left the base. I think he’s heading home for the night.” He told him.

Gibbs told him that they had found their missing marine, Cohen, and that he was dead. Gibbs didn’t want him to pick Sacco up and was shocked as Sacco pulled into the same bar that their missing marine, Atlas, had last been seen at.

_~ “DiNozzo, watch your six.”_ Gibbs told him before hanging up, as per usual.

“Always.” Tony said, even knowing Gibbs wasn’t there and hung up.

He’d walked in and ordered only ginger-ale and had been rather discreet in his tailing. The man hadn’t seemed to notice him. As he walked out of the bar he pulled his phone from his pocket and called Gibbs; checking in like he’d promised to do. It wasn’t a minute into his conversation with his boss that he’d realized something was very, very wrong.

_~“Hey”_ Gibbs said to Tony as he answered his call.

“Gibbs.” Tony began.

_~What’s Up?”_ Gibbs asked.

“Sacco just left the bar off… Uh… uh…uh…I’m not feeling so well.” Tony said as his head began to spin, his vision blur and he started to stumble.

_~“Tony? You okay?”_ Gibbs asked, concerned. Kate looked up from her perusal of the evidence they had just received.

“Think I screwed up, boss.” Tony told him before his phone fell from his hand and he fell into the bumper of his car. He managed to get his keys out of his pocket and tried to open his vehicle, but the keys fell from his slack grasp as his vison went dark and he collapsed to the ground.

_~“Hey, DiNozzo. Can you hear me?”_ Gibbs asked, worried at the lack of response from Tony.

_~“Hey Tony!.... Tony!....Tony, do you hear me?! We’re coming for you!”_ he shouted, standing from his desk and heading for the elevator.

They arrived at the crime scene and found a cell phone near the vehicle that Tony had signed out of the motor pool. He pressed the last call button and his phone rang, coming up as DiNozzo. It seems the same person who had taken Atlas, took Tony too.

Back at the office Kelly came running in.

“Dad, where’s Tony? Did you find him yet? Is he gonna be okay?”

“Kelly, calm down. He’ll be fine. We think we have a lead, we’re going to check it out now. Go down to Abby’s lab and wait okay. We’ll bring him back.” Gibbs told her, glad that they had been on their way out and no-one else was around but him and Kate.

Nodding, Kelly headed towards Abby’s lab and a, hopefully, comforting goth.

A few hours later and Kelly got word that they had just arrive with Tony. She immediately headed for the elevators and ultimately, the bulllpen.

Walking off the elevator she saw Tony standing in the middle of the bullpen.

“Tony! You’re okay!” she yelled as she ran towards him before throwing her arms around his neck and whispering into his ear. “I was so worried about you when I found out you’d gone missing.”

“Hey, it’s okay Kelly. I’m fine, I’m alive and well. You know I’m hard to kill.” He told her, trying to make a joke to cheer her up. He’d started to become less nervous about hugging Kelly because everytime he saw her she hugged him, whether Gibbs was there or not. Thankfully Tony knew Gibbs wasn’t worried about anything, hinky, happening. He knew that Kelly was more like the little sister he’d never had.

“Tony, isn’t she a little…young…for you?” Kate asked, not having recognized Kelly because she’d only met the girl once and all she was seeing was the back of the girl’s head.

Tony pulled away and glared at Kate, along with Gibbs. McGee was just confused.

“That is low, Kate. Even for you. You remember Kelly, right?” Tony said as Kelly turned around and glared at Kate as well.

“If you weren’t a federal agent I’d punch you, Agent Todd.” Kelly told her, the barely concealed contempt and anger in her voice and expression had Kate taking a step back.

Kelly turned back around to face Tony. “You still gonna take me to see that new movie you promised to? Or do you need a rain check?”

“Nah, I’ll still take you. Besides, I want to see it too.” Tony told her as he moved to sit at his desk,

“You better not have messed anything up, McGee.” Tony told the loaned junior agent before starting a conversation with Kelly about her university classes and how they were going.

It was a few weeks later and Gibbs had just gotten worse about the un-named terrorist and finding him. McGee had once again helped them on a case and him and Abby were stood by Gibbs, who had once again slept in his office chair.

McGee and Abby were debating on whether to wake Gibbs up or not. When Gibbs did wake up he was more of a bastard than normal and his doubt over McGee’s ability to refine the search parameters of the facial recognition software that was searching for the terrorist. While McGee told him his idea, Gibbs went to the filing cabinet that held his spare clothes and pulled out a bright red pair of underwear. Thankfully they couldn’t see his raised eyebrow at Tony’s choice in undergarments nor his discreet feel of the, rather soft, fabric.

“Ooh, Gibbs! I dig ‘em!” Abby exclaimed. He’d held them a little too high as he reached in to grab his own clothes from the drawer.

“Tell DiNozzo.” Gibbs told her, he wasn’t in the best of moods since he’d once again slept in the office and hadn’t had his coffee yet. The cup on his desk had been pretty much empty and cold.

McGee continued explaining how the database worked and how he planned to optimize it.

“The FBI has a software program they use on photos of children that have been missing for years to show what they’d look like today.” McGee told him as they followed him.    

“I know what that asshole looks like today, McGee.” Gibbs growled.

“I know you do, Boss. But to create that program the FBI needed age specific criteria.”

“So McGee spent half the night using their criteria to develop a program that can tell a person’s age from a photo.” Abby told him.

“I used the FBI algorithms for cordiodal strain, pore size, wrinkles, adipose tissue and the length of the nose and ears.”    

“Which keep getting longer the older you get whether or not you wear earrings so you might as well wear them.” Abby told him as he rubbed his left ear where there was a small hole.

The piercing he’d gotten when he’d turned 16 to piss his dad off had never grown closed like they normally would, On occasion he’d wear the earring but not often. Abby seemed to have figured out he had his ear pierced and seemed to be trying to subtly tell him he should wear it more often.

“This you can do?” Gibbs asked, just to be sure.

McGee told him he could do it in a few hours which made Gibbs agree to call Norfolk. He couldn’t resist asking where McGee had stayed last night though and making a comment about Abby’s bed, which was a coffin. McGee had more balls than he’d originally given him credit for.

As the day progressed he became more and more frustrated. McGee had finally managed to find out his age and when he would have graduated from school in the UK at 21. He had refined the search parameters and had had one hit that had gone no-where. Tony and Kate had gone to lunch with Ducky and almost two hours later had not returned.

When Tony did return he told him that he was up shit’s creek without a paddle. Tony told him that he needed to see Moby Dick. He didn’t understand the reference. He went to speak with Ducky and as they were talking Ducky remembered that the terrorist had known anatomy. He’d gone to medical school. It was one more step in the right direction. He made McGee add in those parameters and Tony made a comment about the creek him and Kate were up. When Kate finally called in she told him she had food poisoning from some bad oysters. She told him that Tony was right about not eating them during a month without an R.

He headed out for more coffee. Not long after and he walked back into the bullpen to find a huddle consisting of Abby, McGee Tony and Ducky. They’d finally found that bastards name. Ari Haswari. He would finally be able to put him in his place. As him and Tony headed out to check on Kate Tony told him that Kate hadn’t eaten oysters; she’d had the tuna salad.

“That bastard’s got her!” He ground out heading back to his desk to try and find Kate and get her back from that Hamas terrorist.

They had Kate back but, the CIA had given Ari a get out of jail free pass so he could get information on Al-Queda. It pissed him off. He had managed to get Ari alone to talk to him. He payed him back by shooting him in the shoulder like he had done to Gerald and himself. If Ari ever stepped foot back in the states though, he had better hope that he didn’t come alone or show his face to Gibbs and his team.

TBC…

*Yes, I said **two** marriages. There is a method and reason to my madness. Things will be explained, be patient.

AN: That concludes this chapter. Hope you’ve liked the interesting twists and the different perspectives and interactions between characters. As always, Comments, constructive Criticsm and Reviews are welcomed. I love feedback. Flames will be fed to my dragon and flamers sent to Briarcliff. That said, Hope that this story is as fun for you guys to read as it is for me to write.


	5. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not Betaed so any mistakes are mine.  
> Disclaimer. I don't own NCIS so no sense in suing.

** Chapter Four **

Tony walked into the bullpen and he immediately noticed the difference. It seems the AC still wasn’t fixed. God it was too damn hot to be without Air Conditioning. He pulled his jacked off before opening his shirt. If it got too hot then he could always pull that off too. It’s not like he didn’t have another top underneath. He also rolled his shirt sleeves up. About an hour later he was pulling his shirt off as Kate was walking off the elevator.

Kate went to sit down while they were bantering but found McGee under her desk

“Ah, morning, Agent Todd.” McGee stuttered out.

“McGee!”

“Yeah?”

“You have two seconds to tell me what you're doing down there.”

“I'm, ah, upgrading the computer network and, ah...” he trailed off as he realized just HOW she was standing over him and that he’d caught site of her underwear. His brain began to short circuit.

“Time's up!” Kate called out as she realized just where McGee’s eyes had strayed and she began pulling him up by his ears.

“Ah, ah, I wasn't looking, I swear, ow, ow, I wasn't looking, ow...” he complained as she pulled him out from under the desk by his ears.

Gibbs walked in at that moment and stopped in his tracks. He’d known Tony was good-looking but with him wearing only a gray tank top he would be distracted by Tony’s skin. He also noticed Kate had McGee by the ears. “Tony.” He said as his brain caught up with him.

“Yeah?”

“Did I just see what I thought I saw?” Gibbs asked, knowing he would probably be better off making a joke and being his normal bastard self than letting his Senior Field Agent run around half-naked,

“Out of respect for my co-workers, boss, I'd have to say yes you did, and it's very disturbing.” Tony said, making light of the situation between Kate and McGee.

“Thought so, DiNozzo put your damn shirt on we’re not at the gym. McGee what are you still doing here?”

McGee began to stutter and stumble over his words as he explained and Tony’s two-cents wasn’t helping so he decided to see what McGee and Tony would do if he suggested Tony help McGee out with whatever he was doing while he went and sat at his desk.

“We’ve got a problem Gibbs.” Kate says as Gibbs begins to smash his cell phone on his desk when he realized it wasn’t working right, again.

“Damnit I hate this thing! It’s crap!” he growled as he continued banging the phone against his desk.

“There's a secretary from the Pentagon downstairs and she claims her boss is being held hostage…by his computer.” Kate told him as she stood back from Gibbs’ desk.

“See,” Gibbs says holding up his smashed phone, “there's a reason I didn't trust these things.” He tosses it to McGee “Here, reboot that or something.”  He tells him before looking at Kate and saying “Send her up.” And walking away.

“Reboot it?” he asked, puzzled on how he was supposed to reboot a smashed cell phone.

“Or you can do what we always do.” Kate told him as Tony pulls a box out of a filing cabinet drawer filled with new, unopened phones and hands it to McGee.

“It's his third one this month.” He says, holding his ribs from the elbow jab Kate had given him. He hated it when she did that. Unknown to him, Gibbs had seen it too and knew that Tony had recently cracked that rib in a brawl protecting someone, something Kate didn’t know, that and he was getting tired of her jabbing her elbow into Tony’s ribs. Yeah, he could be slightly perverted but, Tony never crossed the line like she did. He would need to have a few words with Agent Todd before Tony decided to press assault charges, not that Tony ever would.

He had Tony go get the secretary while him and Kate waited for the secretary.

“Kate, you need to quit assaulting DiNozzo, even if he deserves it. One day he will get sick of it and have you up on charges of assault. I do NOT want to deal with the problems that would cause.” He told her, the anger in his voice obvious.

“Understood Gibbs.” She said, slightly perturbed at Gibbs’ unusual concern over DiNozzo, even if he did make a valid point.

Once they had gotten all of the information they could from the secretary Gibbs sent McGee and Kate to the Captain’s home to see what they could find.

“Well no signs of anyone observing the place.” McGee said, pulling his binoculars from his face.

“Let’s roll.” Kate said, getting out of the car and heading towards the house.

“She either left in a hurry or was forced to.” Kate said, kneeling to pick up the jacket on the sidewalk.

“What makes you think she didn’t just leave it there?” McGee questioned thinking of his sister.

“Because she’s a little girl, McGee. They’re not typically slobs.” Kate told him.

“Remind me to introduce you to my little sister.” McGee mumbled, thinking that Kate obviously had never met a female like Sara.

“What was that?!”

“Nothing, Agent Todd.” McGee said, not wanting to get on Kate’s bad side.

They went back after getting into the house and finding nothing to report their findings to Gibbs. After they managed to get Sandy released they had her injuries treated before continuing to find the area where their captain’s wife was being held. Once they had they rescued her and McGee and Abby traced the money around the world and right back to DC. When they realized that the captain had set this all up Gibbs and Tony were pissed. Tony sort of knew why because of Kelly. After the case Tony went to Gibbs’ house to make sure he wasn’t going to keep running the case in his head over and over again.

“Hey, Kelly, your dad in the basement?” Tony asked as he walked into the house that, like always when both Gibbs’ were awake, was unlocked.

“Yeah. Bad case?” she asked.

“Yeah. In a way. Kids were involved. No deaths though. Still not a good case.” Tony told her.

“Ah, that explains the bourbon already in the mug.” Kelly told him. Nodding he headed down to the basement to talk the case over with Gibbs.

“Hey, boss.” Tony said as he walked down the last few steps.

“DiNozzo” Gibbs said before taking a swig of bourbon then holding up the bottle towards Tony to ask if he wanted any.

Tony shook his head and began talking, hoping to get Gibbs to forget how much of a bastard the captain had to have been to risk his family like that. They talked about the case and Tony learned the reason Gibbs was so protective of children was because he had almost lost Kelly to a car crash. He’d also lost her mother to that same car crash. Tony understood now why Gibbs could be such a bastard and Kelly’s over-protectiveness of Gibbs. Tony looked at his watch, realizing he should head home and get some sleep since they still had to work tomorrow.

“I better head out, boss. Still gotta go to work tomorrow.” Tony said, standing up and swaying slightly. Apparently he should have stopped drinking bourbon a while ago.

“You can crash on the couch, DiNozzo.” Gibbs said, not wanting Tony to get into an accident.

“Nah, I’ll be fine boss. Just been sitting still too long.” Tony told him, walking towards the stairs and eventually the closet where he’d hung his coat up.

“And where do you think you’re going, mister?” Kelly asked pushing the closet door shut.

“Home.” Tony said, trying to open the closet so he could get his cat and his keys.

“I don’t think so. Go upstairs and get ready for bed, both of you.” Kelly told them before pushing them towards the stairs and partially up them. She then turned around once they had disappeared from her view and grabbed the keys from Tony’s coat pocket, heading out to his car and grabbing his bag that she knew he kept there.

Entering the house she headed for the stairs, knowing Tony still had a pair of sweats there from the last time he’d stayed over that he could change into. She set his bag by the bathroom door before knocking.

“Tony, your bag’s by the door.” She said walking back to her room and hiding the keys to Tony’s car in her pillow on the bottom so that she’d notice if anyone tried to take them. She had no intentions of letting him out of the house while drunk.

%Next Morning%

Tony awoke to someone gently shaking his shoulder. He opened his eyes a crack to see Kelly. She shover her hand in his face so he could see the two tiny white pills she held. He grabbed them and swallowed them dry, taking the glass of water once he felt he could move without pain.

“You’d think I’d be used to waking up with a hangover” he told her, it gained him a small chuckle from her and Gibbs, who had just walked into the room.

“Get ready to go, Dinozzo, your bag’s by the bathroom.” Gibbs said, walking out the door with coffee in hand.

Tony shook his head and turned to Kelly, “Does he ever sleep?” he asked, considering Gibbs didn’t seem to be dealing with the hangover from hell.

“Yes, he just gets up earlier so the aspirin’s already kicked in.” she told him, laughing as he stuck his toungue out before levering himself off the couch and heading upstairs for the bathroom.

The rest of the day was relatively calm, finishing reports mostly.

As the next few months passed they had some regular run of the mill cases and some not so normal ones. There was the priest who abducted young women from Navy bases and made them into perfect fifties housewives, or tried to. Tony could still feel the occasional beatnik playing the bongo’s in his head when he thought about that one. Then there had been the mafia graveyard that was on a bomb range, with plenty of unexploded ordinance. That one the FBI had gotten involved and they found out that one of Fornell’s men was framing him. They’d had to fake Fornell’s death, something that wasn’t easy to do. Thankfully they were able to put that case behind them for now.

Of course there had been other memorable cases as well. Ernie Yost, who believed he’d killed his best friend on Iwo Jima when, he had in fact, not done so. At least, not in the way that he would be punished for it. Tony had really liked Ernie. He’d even managed to keep in contact with the older man, he was much like the grandfather Tony hadn’t known. He’d felt an instant connection to Ernie, knowing he was a medal of honor recipient just made Tony respect him even more than he had when he’d first met him. The JAG officer was hell bent on charging Ernie with Murder, thankfully Gibbs had managed to get the truth of what happened. Corporal Wade Kean had died as a casualty of War and not because Corporal Ernie Yost had killed him. When Yost had asked him how long he’d been in the corp Tony had said the only thing that came to his mind; since he’d met Gibbs, which had been four years ago. Tony knew that Gibbs had taken Ernie out for a drink afterwards and that the man he’d claimed was from Iwo-Jima was actually a soldier at Guadalcanal. Gibbs had taken him to the restaurant the man worked at a few times before. If only it had been in a more familiar capacity, like a date. Tony could pretend at least. He was just glad that Ernie had been cleared.

Tony remembered the sandwich Ernie had made him; it was good, a unique mixture of flavors.*

Before Tony knew it his normal spring break vacation with his Frat Buddies was upon him. This year though, he was going along to keep a certain auburn haired teenager out of trouble. That and she’d asked him to go with her. She knew that her dad wouldn’t let her go otherwise. That and her ex-boyfriend would be goin and she didn’t want him trying to keep getting back with her. Tony didn’t mind. He figured he was way past his spring break days anyway. He had no intentions of telling Kate that though. She would just make cracks about it.

TBC…

***** The sandwich, Ernie starts to say he uses a mixture of Mayo and Mustard instead of just plain Mayo. This is actually really good and I would suggest trying it. It gives an extra Zing to a normal sandwich.

AN: As always, comments constructive criticism, reviews and all forms of feedback welcome. Flames will be fed to the dragons and Flamers sent to Briarcliff Manor. Oh and the song from a few chapters ago is **Crimson and Clover** _by_ **Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.**


	6. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not betaed all mistakes are mine.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS. Only the plunny that started this whole fic belongs to me.

** Chapter Five **

Tony had returned from Spring Break with some interesting pictures. Kelly had been the one to find the picture first and had then pointed it out to Tony. She was still pissed at Kate for even suggesting that Tony dated women so young. Kelly would never tell Tony, but she looked to him as a brother/father figure. She knew things about Tony that not even her dad or his co-workers knew. Things that even Wendy hadn’t known. Tony, likewise, knew things about Kelly that most people didn’t. She knew she could confide in her dad but it was also kind of weird so she instead often confided in Tony and her best friend Maddie. Plus, it was fun to make the snobs of her University jealous. Thankfully her dad was in on the joke otherwise Tony would have met the business end of his Sig, co-worker or not. Her finding that picture was just coincidence. Now her and Tony would have some good blackmail material on Kate.

Tony lorded that photo over Kate’s head for weeks. Until she convinced Abby to help her blackmail Tony. When Kate sent him that photo of him in leather chaps and not much else Tony had barely managed to keep the act up. Thankfully Kate didn’t know about his brief stint as a model in College otherwise he would be in for it. That and he had several photos of a risqué nature. That’s why he knew about the photography side of things in their case shortly before his vacation. When they had agreed to delete the photo’s at the same time Tony was glad and yet, somewhat sad to see both photo’s deleted. Though when Gibbs’ computer pinged right after Tony had had a small freak out and him and Kate had scuttled out of there as fast as they could. He missed Gibbs’ reaction to the photos.

Gibbs looked up as his computer pinged and his eyes widened for a moment before he had to lean back and then move forward again for a closer look at the second photo. He knew that it wasn’t an actual photo of DiNozzo but, it was still a damn fine one. He’d ask Kelly to print it out later. Looking at the first one he had to laugh, seems Kate isn’t as much of a catholic girl as she made herself out to be.

It was a Friday and Tony and Kelly had made plans to go to the movies before going out to eat. Gibbs knew that Kelly would be home later than usual because of her and Tony’s plans. He was glad Tony and Kelly got along great; it meant that if he ever got a chance with DiNozzo Kelly would have no problems like she had with his other ex-wives. Part of the reason his marriages fell apart was they were jealous of the closeness between him and Kelly. Unfortunately DiNozzo was straight but that didn’t mean he couldn’t fantasize about Tony; nor dream about what his life could be like if he was with the younger agent; not that he was a big dreamer to begin with.

Tony pulled up outside the building Kelly’s last class was being held in and waited. His Corvette often attracted attention because it was a classic car. Kelly had been telling him about some girls that were giving her problems. They were transfers and Kellly wanted to show them up. They’d done this before with some other snobs; pretended that Kelly was dating a rich older guy who was also a federal agent. Tony remembered the first time that they’d played this joke on some senior students. He was sure Gibbs was going to kill him; Gibbs had actually laughed before telling him that he was glad Tony had Kelly’s six just like he had Gibbs’.

Tony continued thinking about Gibbs and how different Gibbs was at work as compared to his home. He was still a bastard but it was more toned down when he was at home. Plus, Gibbs had a rather wicked sense of humor that he rarely showed at the office. As he was reminiscing he didn’t notice someone approaching his car until there was a light rap on the driver side window. He looked up and saw a campus police officer standing there. He rolled the window down and asked if everything was okay.

“Just had some questions, sir.” The rent-a-cop said.

“Well I am waiting for someone. Want to see my ID?” Tony asked, a sarcastic note in his tone that the other man missed.

“Yes.”

Tony nodded, reached into his back pocket, his gun flashing as he did so, and pulled out his ID. He flipped the ID down flashing his badge and photo, which stated he was NCIS.

“Oh. Sorry to disturb you, sir.” The other man said before turning and walking back to his small vehicle.

_‘Now I know why there’s a lot of crimes on campuses. Idiotic rent-a-cops. He didn’t even verify that I was who I said I was. No wonder Gibbs worries about Kelly so much; what with such low standards in security here,’_ he thought to himself as he watched the campus vehicle drive away.

Ten minutes later the doors to the lecture hall opened and students began pouring out. Tony stepped out of his car and leaned against it, getting appreciative looks from several of the women and a few men as he did so. He kept an eye out for Kelly, raising his hand a waving at her. Her squeal at seeing him made him crack a smile, she sure did like playing it up. She would make a fine investigator one day; especially at undercover work. Just then she slammed into him and he picked her up and spun her around, laughing with her.

“How ya been, babydoll?” he asked, kissing both of her cheeks, Italian style.*

“I’ve been good Antonio.” She said, smiling.

“You ready to go? We’ve got reservation for 9:00 at Carpe Diem** followed by a private showing of our choice.” He told her as he opened the door for her like a true gentleman would. He then proceeded to get into his car, pulled out of the spot and headed off down the road in a showy fashion. Once they were far enough away they both burst out laughing.

“That was hilarious!” Kelly told him, “You should have seen the look on their faces, it was priceless! Thank you Tony.” She said, once she had gotten her giggles under control.

“It’s no problem, Kelly. It helps me to keep my UC skills sharp and it makes me feel better to know you’re not gonna be dragged into some of the crazy shit that can happen in College. That and I get to have a beautiful young woman on my arm for the evening.” he told her, a mischievous light entering his eyes at the last followed by a wink. It got another round of laughter started in the car.

“I knew there was a reason I liked you, Tony.” she said, a smile gracing her features. “We both like pranks, movies and music.”

“That we do Kelly, that we do.”

“Did you really make reservations at Carpe Diem?”

“Yes, just to be thorough. My frat brother and his wife own Carpe Diem and a friend of mine is giving us a private showing of whatever movie we want. I give him an un-biased opinion on movies.” He told her, enjoying her surprise at the information he’d just shared.

Their dinner and movie had gone very well. Kelly had noticed a few of her snobby classmates at the fancy, high class restaurant and had discreetly pointed them out to Tony. Tony understood and proceeded to ham it up deliberately. When Tony dropped Kelly back off at home he waited and waved before heading home himself. He ended up back at the office once again because of a sudden connection he had made. Little did he know that less than a week later his life would once again hang in the balance. Only this time, he wouldn’t be able to face the danger head on.

TBC…

 

*I’m not Italian so if it’s wrong I’m sorry. I can only go on what little I know from movies, books and the like. I mean no disrespect but it seems like a Tony thing that he would do with those he considers family.

** ** _Carpe Diem_** is  Latin for **_“Seize the Day”_**  anyone want to take a guess as to what artist made a song with the same English name? This is a made up restaurant (I think) and any resemblance to any real place is purely coincidence.


	7. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not betaed so all mistakes are mine.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS.

** Chapter Six **

Tony realized he was in trouble when the letter he opened spewed a fine white powder. It wasn’t until later that he realized just how much trouble he was in. He was glad it was him that had opened the letter though,

Tony had acted like it was of no worry to him and that the only thing he was concerned about was his clothing. When they arrived at Bethesda Tony had tried to keep Kate’s mind from worrying about what the powder was by annoying her.

Kelly was at home when her cell phone went off at the same time as the house phone.

“Yeah, Gibbs.” She answered, the same way her dad always did.

“Kelly, it’s Maddie. Did you hear?”

“Hear what?”

“Someone sent a letter to NCIS filled with a Bio-attack. The letter was opened in your dad’s office. Mom works at Bethesda.”

“Oh, god. Maddie I’ll call you later. I have to check on my dad and Tony.” She said, hanging up and dialing her dad’s work extension, then his cell phone, then finally calling dispatch. They were able to tell her that he was in Autopsy because it was negative pressure. She had them patch her through to the phone in Autopsy.

“Autopsy.” Palmer answered the phone.

_~ “Can I speak with Agent Gibbs, please? It’s Kelly.”_

“Hold on one moment.” He placed his hand over the receiver “Agent Gibbs, Kelly is on the phone for you.” He said, managing not to stutter too badly. Gibbs walked over and grabbed the phone from him.

“Kelly, how’d you know where I was?” he asked.

_~ “Dispatch. Maddie’s mom works at Bethesda. Maddie said someone sent you a Bio-virus. Are you okay? Is Tony?”_ she asked, concern and worry in her voice.

“I’m fine. Tony opened the letter. Him and Kate are on their way to Bethesda now. We don’t know who sent it or why.”

_~ “Is he going to be okay?”_

“We don’t know yet. We’re not even sure **what** the powder is.”

_~ “Is there anything I can do, dad?”_

“Yeah, go to Bethesda, keep them informed on our current findings and keep us informed on their condition. Tell them I sent you. If they give you any trouble make sure and tell them you’re listed as one of Tony’s Medical Proxy’s. Got it?”

_~ “Yeah. I’ll keep you updated every hour. Stay safe, keep me in the loop.”_ She hung up just like her dad. Shaking his head he went back to the plasma and continued to try and figure out this damn case while he was stuck in Autopsy.

** ~Bethesda Naval Hospital~ **

Kelly walked into the front doors and up to the information desk. Clearing her throat to get the girl behind the desk to notice her.

“Can I help you?” the girl asked.

“Yeah, I need to speak to whoever’s in charge of the isolation Unit.”

“I’m sorry ma’am. Dr. Pitt is unable to speak with anyone at the moment.”

“Dr. Pitt huh? Well you page Dr. Pitt or his assisting Nurse **now** and tell them that their NCIS contact is here. I’ll wait.” She told the snobby bitch behind the counter. She watched as the woman picked up the phone and called. She turned around once the snob had placed the phone back in its cradle, waiting to see either a doctor or a nurse.

Five minutes later a security guard showed up and tried to escort her out of the building. She told the security guard to shove it and that if Dr. Pitt or his assisting Nurse didn’t show up within the next ten minutes she would be calling SecNav and he would **not** be pleased and the treatment she was receiving. She made a point to let it be known that the person that called the security guard would find themselves receiving a pink slip soon. It was a ruse but it worked rather well because five minutes later a young man around Tony’s age showed up, lab coat and all.

“I’m Dr. Pitt. Are you the NCIS contact?” he asked of Kelly.

“Yes, doctor. My name’s Kelly Gibbs.” She answered, taking the doctor’s hand in a friendly handshake. He began leading her away and towards the isolation chamber.

“I just spoke with Dr. Mallard, he said that the powder was Y-pestis. We’re still waiting for the test results for their bloodwork to come in. Until then you will not be able to enter the Iso-chamber.”

“I understand. How is Tony doing?”

“He’s beginning to run a fever. It’s a very slight change in temperature which means it could just be because of the UV Lights.” Brad told her as they walked towards the Isolation Unit.

Nodding she followed the doctor into the area of the isolation unit.

“When will I be able to go in?”

“Not until we know if anyone is infected and we can have you sign a no-liability paper. Not my rules.” He said quickly, seeing the glare on her face.

“I see. Those blood tests had better come back soon, otherwise I will go in without your permission.” Kelly said, hanging back out of sight and watching Tony. He was once again toying with Kate, which caused her to make several rather caustic remarks. It made Kelly see red for a moment.

“The moment their results come in and they are cleared Tony will be coming with me. Understood Dr. Pitt?”

“Of course. Will Kate also be joining you?”

“No. She can find her own way home. I don’t appreciate her treatment of Tony.” She said, watching Tony’s antics. She knew it was driving Kate nuts.

** ~NCIS~ **

Gibbs was going nuts in Autopsy. He had to get out of there and into the lab where he would feel more useful. He’d had Palmer go requisition replacements for their phones and weapons right after he’d spoken with Kelly. After he’d gotten frustrated with being stuck in Autopsy he grabbed the iso-suit along with McGee and headed for Abby’s lab. Tony was in danger and he had to find this bitch or bastard and make them pay. He hoped that Tony wasn’t infected but it was possible since he had most likely breathed some of the powder upon opening the letter. The fact that McGee couldn’t access the case file from Autopsy only reinforced his decision to leave Autopsy.

He’d had to force Abby to irradiate the envelope and it’s contents. Once he’d spoken with Ducky and had him get ahold of Cassie to help he felt a bit better. She would remember the case better than he would.

** ~Bethesda Naval Hospital~ **

Kate watched Tony and Kate’s interactions. She knew he’d be worried. Kate had agreed, until she’d made the crack tha Tony didn’t even have half a brain. Tony was much smarter than he portrayed himself. She’d seen his apartment and even the most studious bookworm would be jealous. He had a whole room dedicated to nothing but Bokks on many different topics. She’d actually borrowed some to write a few term papers for several of her classes.

Brad, who had insisted they be informal, had left twenty minutes ago. She watched as he headed straight for Emma and turned the microphones off.

“All the blood cultures came back negative, except for Agent DiNozzo’s. He’s infected with Y-pestis.” Brad said, glancing at Kelly as he did. Kelly’s lips tightened to an Angry tight-lipped grimace. She nodded and pulled out her phone.

“Gonna call Ducky. I want Agent Todd removed from that unit ASAP. Her barbs will **not** help him now.”

“I’ll try.” Brad said as he handed Kelly the most recent stats for Tony.

She walked out and over to a quiet corner and dialed the number for Ducky.

_~ “Dr. Mallard. Who is this?”_

“Ducky, it’s Kelly. All the cultures came back negative, except Tony’s. He’s beginning to run a fever and the virus is attacking his lungs. Tell dad that I’m going into the unit to be with Tony. If he gets pissed tell him I’d rather me in there than Kate. Okay?”

_~ “I’ll let him know right away. Keep us informed.”_

“Will do Ducky.” She said before hanging up and heading right back into the unit.

She walked in just as Tony mentioned knowing Brad because of a football game in College. Of course he would be the one to run into an old football rival in such a circumstance. She watched, and listened, as Kate lied to Tony which pissed her off. She’d told Dr. Pitt to get her out of the damn iso-chamber. She watched as Tony’s breathing became a little more labored after a coughing fit. When Brad had come out she confronted the man about Kate still being in the room with Tony.

“She refused to leave. I tried to make her but she refused to listen to reason. She apparently wants Tony to feel like he’s not alone in this.”

“He won’t be. I’ll be there with him and I have no intentions of leaving until he is moved from the isolation Unit and into a proper room. Even then I would be there with him every chance I get. He’s important to me and my dad. I won’t let him die of a disease from the dark ages.” She said, her hands flying rapidly around as she spoke. She’d noticed Tony did the same thing sometimes too.

“I know that but she doesn’t and she still will not leave, even knowing that she could be infected.” Brad told her.

“I don’t care about the risks to me, my dad can be pissed all he wants but I am going in there right now.” She said, grabbing a mask and heading to the airlock that would admit her into the Iso-Unit.

Tony and Kate looked up as the doors swished opened and admitte her. Kate had a defiant glare on her face and Tony smiled before coughing once again. Kelly rushed to aid Tony, leaning him forward when his coughing fit didn’t subside like before, He was rapidly getting worse, the blood that slipped from the corner of his mouth proved that.

Once his coughing had subsided she helped him lean back and sat on the edge of his bed.

“Hey Tony. How ya feeling?”

“Like crap.” He told her, trying to gain a smile from her.

“I bet you are. Don’t worry Tony, dad will find out who did this and make them pay.”

“I know.”

Kelly watched as they began to ready Tony to have chest x-rays done. She held his hand as he tried to make a joke about his sitation. She was forced to let his hand go as she stepped behind the protective shielding for his x-ray.

Once they had been developed she watched as Brad and Ducky looked over it, she knew it as bad since his lips were slightly blue. He began to cough and wasn’t able to stop. Brad and Emma came in and forced Kate out and tried to force her out, her glare quelled them and she grabbed Tony’s hand as tears began to silently spill from her eyes.

She looked up as the doors opened and brad stopped her dad. She was glad to hear that the bug was dead and she moved to the opposite side as her dad told Tony he didn’t have permission to die. Her dad’s comment about getting the number for his replacement cell phone changed because women kept calling for Spanky had Tony cracking a small smile. She did too because it was an inside joke that the three of them shared.

She looked at her dad and her look said that she was staying with him. He nodded and stood up, patting Tony’s hand as he did so. She glared at Kate when she tried to stay as well. Kate scurried out of the room again and Kelly laid down in the bed right next to Tony’s as the lights were slowly shut  
off and everything else was shut down. It would be rough going for a while but between her and her dad Kelly knew they’d be able to get Tony through it mostly intact.

TBC…

AN: Second slight twist. Just a small deviance from cannon. As always reviews are greatly appreciated and flames and flamers will be dealt with accordingly (aka used as target practice or dragon food ~_^)

_**HAPPY NEW YEARS!!** _


	8. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbetaed so all mistakes are mine.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS.  
> AN: Several people have pointed out that Joan Jett wasn’t the original singer of Crimson and Clover. I was sure Joan Jett was but seeing as a LOT of bands do covers it is possible that she’s not. Though I will stick with the version I know as that was my inspiration for the name of the bar. I am a musician’s daughter so I love learning new tidbits about the ever changing world of Music. Now without further ado….another chapter of Cascade Effect starts.

** Chapter Seven **

It had been a few weeks since his brush with death and Tony was going stir-crazy. He was ready to go back to work even though he knew he could take another week yet. Kelly had tried to talk him out of going back early but it hadn’t worked. She had even had her dad try to convince him to take the time allotted for him to recover but he hadn’t been able to change Tony’s mind either. It still boggled his mind that both Gibbs’ were so concerned about his health. He knew Kelly would be because she looked to him like an older brother; someone other than her dad that she could look up to. She even said she wanted to follow in Tony’s footsteps and go into Law Inforcement. It had caused plenty of fights between Kelly and Tony and Gibbs. It was one of the things they were in agreement on; they didn’t want Kelly to have to deal with the crap that came with being in Law Enforcement but that she was old enough to make her own decisions.

Kelly had convinced her dad to pick Tony up; not that he needed much convincing according to Kelly, so Tony was getting ready for his first day back knowing that it would be an interesting day. Kate had recently suffered a broken leg during a case so she was stuck on desk duty. Director Morrow had brought in Paula Cassidy to help the team since Tony was out on Medical Leave and Kate was stuck behind a desk. Kelly had told him that her dad had been even more of a bastard than usual; especially since Paula Cassidy had tried to take over Tony’s desk. Kelly had witnessed it as she had stoped by during a lull in her classes and had seen her dad force Agent Cassidy to take another desk. It had caused no end of amusement for her, especially since McGee **and** Kate had been tiptoeing around him ever since. Tony heard the knock on his door and finished up, grabbed his bag, gun and badge and opened the door smiling.

“Ready to go, boss?” he asked. The stare he got in return was beginning to make him fidget.

“Ya look like hell DiNozzo. Ya sure you’re ready?”

“I’m fine, Boss. I feel great.” Gibbs just stared at Tony before shaking his head and muttering something about stubbornness and headed for the stairs, Tony right on his heels.

They arrived at NCIS and while in the elevator Gibbs once again had to ask if Tony was sure he was ready and point out he looked like shit and that he should take the extra week. Tony told him he’d be fine. When he walked in Paula Cassidy had once again changed her hair color.* Originally she was supposed to arrive the next day, but because of Kate’s injuries she had been called back because she was one of the few that could stand to work with Gibbs, other than his team, and not run away in tears or resign. Kate and McGee ignored him as he walked in and Paula just gave him a small wave, the look on her face meant she was obviously not happy about something. Tony stood there as Kate gave Gibbs the details of their newest case, Gibbs threw the truck keys to McGee and Paula followed McGee. Gibbs’ small headslap had him smiling and following Gibbs like normal.

When they got to the crime scene Gibbs and Paula headed to the car while he ran the plates and got the information from them. He headed down the embankment while telling Gibbs before his foot got caught on something and he went tumbling down towards the others. Gibbs headed up to find out where Ducky was whilst the three of them continued to process the scene. A snake began to wrap around Paula’s leg, which had Tony trying to freak her out until McGee came down with the keys to check out the trunk. When he told her that it was a corn snake and not poisonous she pushed Tony down to the ground once again.

He caught a glimpse of something under the car and turned his head to get a better look.

“Freeze, McGee! Don’t move! Car’s wired to explode. Looks like the detonators tied to the trunk.” He said standing up.

“What?” McGee squeaked his nervousness showing in his voice,

“How far’d you turn the key?” Paula asked, stepping away from the vehicle more.

“Uh… not sure. Almost all the way I think.”

“Okay, don’t let it snap back. Alright” Tony said, moving to carefully get his hands on the key so McGee could get out of harm’s way.

“Yeah.”

“Let go…okay.” He said now that he had a hold of the key. “Okay both of you run.”

“No Tony we’re not leaving you stand…” Paula began before Tony interrupted her.

“I’m a lot faster than you are I’ll be right behind you. This is not a debate! Okay. This thing might be primed already.” He said, glancing at them as they began to run up the embankment. Once they were safely out of the way he let go and ran as fast as he could. He managed to make good ground before the car exploded and was able to avoid most of the blast. He had the breath knocked out of him from the pressure wave that had caught him before he got to the top of the hill.

“Boss, remember when I said I never felt better? I lied.” he said, collapsing onto the crime scene tape.

Once they were back at the Navy Yard Gibbs made Kate take Tony down to see Ducky. She was concerned about what had happened and had been badgering him to tell her what had happened.

“I’m tellin’ ya I'm fine.” Tony said around the thermometer in his mouth.

“136 over 84 is not fine for you Tony. Your blood pressure is high.” Ducky said, pulling the pressure cuff from Tony’s arm.

“Almost getting blown up tends to do that to me. Not to mention hanging around Kate when she’s in one of her moods.”

“This isn’t funny DiNozzo.” Kate said, arms crossed over her chest.

“No, it’s not. If I hadn’t come to work today Paula and McGee would be laying on one of those tables over there.

“Well at least your temperature is pretty normal” Ducky said, taking the thermometer and checking it.

“Yeah, I’m good to go…nnnggg” Tony groaned as he moved off the table.

“Ah, muscle soreness?”

“Only when I move or breathe” he said, slightly sarcastically.

“Yes, clearly you haven’t quite recovered with your bout of y-pestis. You need a rest.”

“No, I need to get back to work.”

“Oh, dammit Tony. I should just take you home and get you in bed.” Kate paused, looking around and running her words over in her head. “Okay, that didn’t come out the way I intended.”

“What didn’t, Kate?” Gibbs asked as he walked in to autopsy.

Oh I wa…I was just say…” Kate stumbled over her words before Ducky interjected.

“Kate was just expressing our concern for Tony here,”

“Yeah, how is he?”

“Stubborn, pig headed and unaware of his own limitations.”

“Sounds about right.” Gibbs said, walking over to where Palmer was looking over the burnt remains of their victims.

“I haven’t finished with you yet.” Ducky told Tony as he walked past to the light board and the dental records of their victims.

Once he’d gotten the information he needed he headed for the elevators, telling Tony he needed to go lie down. Tony followed stiffly, the muscle soreness obvious. He first tried to lay down in the bullpen before McGee and Kate disturbed him and Gibbs told him to go somewhere else. He decided to go to Abby’s lab. Her hug aggravated his muscle pains and she knew it because she started apologizing. Once they’d got the results from Abby they headed back to the bullpen, Gibbs parting remark about someone trying to kill them had Tony and Abby worried.

When Fornell showed up while Gibbs was out and told them that Ari Haswari was back in town and wanted to kill Gibbs Tony knew the shit was going to hit the fan. After talking with Fornell, Gibbs and Morrow, Kate was put in charge of Gibbs’ protection detail. She gave Paula the rundown on how she wanted things to be done when out in the field seeing as she wasn’t cleared for field duty yet. The next day they went out to Danbourne Avionics and found out that one of their old target drones was missing. That’s when they realized Ari wasn’t a double agent and was playing them all.

When they had gotten a relatively good trace on Ari’s cell phone they headed out for Norfolk. It was as they were heading there that Tony asked what day it was. McGee told him and he looked at Gibbs.

“Boss, Paula was originally planned to return today.”

“What’s that got to do with anything, Tony?” McGee asked.

“The whole Marine Amphibious Strike Group returns today. Five ships all of them due in Norfolk.” Tony said. Gibbs was the one to explain that it wasn’t the ships but the returning crewmember’s families that they were going after. Tony had to grab the wheel when Gibbs turned around to glare at McGee for implying he couldn’t work the target drone control.

 As soon as they got to the grouping of warehouses they figured out which one the terrorist cell was using and went in after them, guns blazing. McGee managed to jam one of the frequencies before his computer was shot and destroyed. Gibbs ended up shooting the control unit that they’d used to fly the target drone to stop it. Once they had stopped the drone a terrorist came out of nowhere, Tony shot him before he could shoot Gibbs too. As they stood there talking a shot came from out of no-where, splattering Tony’s face with blood and brain matter. Tony and Gibbs looked around but couldn’t see anyone. It had to be Ari. They both knew it, in their guts. It would be proving it that would be hard.

~Rooftop~

Ari smirked as he saw the back of Kate’s head in his crosshairs. He pulled the trigger, watching as it made contact with her forehead dead center.

“Sorry Caitlin” he whispered before hurrying to pack up and get out of there.

TBC…

AN: Yes, I can be an Evil Bitch. Hope you enjoyed this latest installment of Cascade Effect. As always reviews appreciated flames are not.

*I’ve noticed that Paula Cassidy seems to change her hair color a lot. That and her original hair color seems to be similar to Kate’s but not quite as black as Abby’s. Could be the lighting though.


	9. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is unbetaed so all mistakes are mine.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS; if I did Kate would be alive, Ari would still be dead and Tony and Gibbs would be going at it like rabbits.

**_ Chapter Seven Recap _ **

_Ari smirked as he saw the back of Kate’s head in his crosshairs. He pulled the trigger, watching as it made contact with her forehead dead center._

_“Sorry Caitlin” he whispered before hurrying to pack up and get out of there._

** Chapter Eight **

Ducky had been called and had taken the body of their fallen comrade away. Gibbs had followed while Tony and McGee searched out Ari’s sniper nest. It had taken them several hours and them getting soaked with the sudden onslaught of rain, but they had finally found it. They headed straight for the Navy Yard after collecting the evidence left behind.

“Found Ari’s snipers nest boss.” Tony said, walking over to Gibbs.

“Roof of an abandoned office building to the east.” McGee chimed in.

“Didn’t police his brass.” Tony said, holding the bagged casings out to Gibbs. “They’re Lapua .308’s.”

“Lapua’s match grade sniper ammo. You guys find any bullets?”

“Uh…None that matched the casings. I left three guys on the roof searching. McGee and I will go back to the roof boss.”

“Tony…you’re soaking wet. Go put some dry clothes on.” Gibbs said, knowing that Tony shouldn’t have been outside in the bad weather having barely recovered from his bout with pneumonic plague.

As they continued talking about the ammo Tony had to explain how they knew it was a full metal jacket bullet. They ran through several scenario’s before realizing he was aiming for Kate, not Gibbs. Tony had seen Gibbs be nice, at home. It was weird for Gibbs to be nice at work. Tony went down to the lab and told Abby to run the casings they’d found. She was understandably upset despite certain misgivings. After Abby berated Tony about what she could and couldn’t tell them with just the casings he grabbed her and held her.

Within five minutes of arriving in Abby’s lab someone took a pot shot at Abby. He knocked Abby down and covered her with his own body to protect her. He then dragged her right under the windows where they wouldn’t be seen.

“Abby!” Gibbs called from outside the lab.

“Boss, down! We’re taking fire!” Tony whispered loudly. Gibbs ducked in and started shutting off all of the lights before joining Abby and Tony.

“You okay?” Gibbs asked Abby.

“Yeah.”

“Close off Anacostia Park between the bridges. Tell metro cops it’s a crime scene. Call Kelly as well, make sure she gets to the yard ASAP.” Gibbs told Tony, knowing that Ari was now going after the women he worked with and cared for.

“Ok.”

“Hey!” Gibbs grabbed Tony and pulled him back down from his half standing position. “What if he has night vision goggles?”

“Good point boss” he said before crawling out of the lab.

“I will get you bullet proof glass” Gibbs told Abby once Tony had left.

“There’s no such thing Gibbs.”

“Ok, bullet resistant glass.”

He took Abby up to the bullpen and had Tony stay with her while they wrote up an Incident report before heading down to Ducky in Autopsy. Ducky really should have brought in another ME but he knew he wouldn’t. Abby went down to the garage when McGee brought the car they had driven to the warehouse in. She managed to dig out two slugs from the trunk of the car.

When Gibbs went to speak with Director Morrow in MTAC he wouldn’t use Ari’s name and the word sniper in the same sentence. That’s when he found out Morrow was leaving NCIS and going to Homeland Security and met their new director; Jenny Sheppard. They’d worked together in Paris and it was one of the things Gibbs wished he could forget. Normally he wouldn’t have gone so far away for work but Kelly had been 17 and his nephew, Seeley* had agreed to keep an eye on her. It also gave Seeley’s son Parker a chance to re-connect with Kelly, who he hadn’t seen since he was two or three. He’d fallen for her charms and had gotten kicked in the teeth for it; part of the reason why Rule Number Twelve was so important now and why he couldn’t risk it with Tony, no matter what Kelly said. He’d work with her only because he had to, her being the new director and all. He made her come with him so he could change clothes. Thankfully no-one outside of his team knew about Kelly and she only saw his basement.

When he arrived back at the Navy Yard it was to an unknown woman who walked right up to their new director like she was an old friend. He went over to his desk, Tony meeting him and leaning over so they could talk without being heard.

“You first.”

“Ziva David, Mossad. She’s here to stop you from whacking Ari. Yours?”

“Director Jenny Sheppard. Same mission.”

“Which agency?”

“Ours.” Tony shot him a disbelieving look when he said that, but Gibbs’ look said it was true, unfortunately.

They spoke silently for several seconds before being interrupted by the Director and the Mossad Agent. Tony had gotten the message loud and clear. It seems their charade would last longer than previously planned. Ziva’s anger at Gibbs’ accusing Ari of being the sniper was rather obvious and Gibbs and Tony shared another look. Kelly had just texted Tony. She’d understood some of the conversation that Ziva David had had on the phone. She was to leave a package somewhere for Ari to pick up.

Gibbs had Tony follow Ziva to find out what the package was and where it would be dropped off at. Tony was talking with Kelly whilst he was following Ziva’s taxi to a hotel. Her dad had figured out which rifle Ari had used to kill Kate. A Bravo 51, also known as a Kate. That was no coincidence. He would get that bastard Ari and make him pay.

Shortly after, Ducky left the building when Gibbs had said no-one was supposed to leave. It didn’t take them long to realize that Ari had abducted Gerald to get to Ducky. When Gerald came into the building but Ducky was still missing Gibbs went to meet with Tony before following the woman that Ziva had slipped a fake passport to.

Ari had managed to temporarily fool the newest NCIS director by setting up a Hamas Terrorist to take the fall. After Ari was supposedly cleared and the Assistant Director of Mossad had spoken with Ziva, telling her to give her full cooperation to NCIS they went down to Abby’s lab to talk.

Tony walked over to Gibbs whilst Director Sheppard and Ziva David were in MTAC.

“What’s our next move Boss?”

“Keep the charade up. I’m gonna get Ari, and use his handler to do it.”

“Do they know about…” he lowered his voice even more “Kelly?”

“No, they know what the official reports said and that’s that she died with her mother.” Gibbs told Tony, who had heard the story from Kelly before asking Gibbs about it.

“Where is she anyway?”

“Sent her to stay with Seeley, Temperance and Christine.** Didn’t want her to get caught up in this, especially since the arrival of Ziva.” Gibbs told him in a whisper. “Here they come.”

Before implementing their plan he had Abby, Tony and Jenny leave the lab and got the information he needed. Ziva had done Dossier’s on him and his team; including Shannon and Kelly. He had to show Ziva what Ari was really like.

When he went down to his basement to pull out his Sniper Rifle Ari made himself known. He got Ari to admit to killing Kate before Ziva took him out. It was then that he learned that Ari was Ziva’s half-brother. He left her there to call Tony and have a team sent out.

The funeral was really nice; closed casket though. He almost hadn’t made it because their new director didn’t see it fit to handle things she was supposed to. It was a good thing they hadn’t ended the ruse yet. After placing their roses on the casket they went to leave. Abby was on his left side, Kelly on his right and Tony was on her right. He’d seen the look that Jenny had shot Kelly and it pissed him off. Tony had noticed it too and didn’t look none too happy either. They would have to remedy Jenny’s jealousy soon.

TBC…

*Yes, I am talking about Seeley Booth from Bones. It dawned on me that Seeley’s grandfather and Gibbs’ father are portrayed by the same actor so, I thought it would be interesting if they were related. Yes, I did do a full background that is plausible but Seeley (and Temperance) might not be mentioned other than in passing.

**Yes, I am playing with the timeline of events pertaining to Bones. I know Temperance didn't have Christine until season 6 or 7(can't quite remember and don't feel like looking it up) but I decided to mess with the timelines since they aren't an integral part of this fic and will only be mentioned on occasion in passing.

AN: Another chapter finished. As always Reviews Welcomed and Flames and Flamers will be given to Norbert.


	10. Chapter Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbetaed; all mistakes are mine.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS.

** Chapter Nine **

A few months had passed since Ziva had shot Ari and they’d had to send one of their own out of the area so that she would be protected. They’d gone it alone, just Gibbs, Tony and McGee but finally she was coming home and would be back to work now that she was medically cleared to do so.

Tony had gone into the office after a weekend off and was mumbling to himself about where Kelly had taken him to eat.

“I shouldn't have come into work today. Gibbs sees me like this....” Tony trailed off as he was interrupted by a voice behind him.

“He’ll probably be as horrified as I am Agent DiNozzo.” Tony turned around to look at the person who had spoken.

“You mind telling me, uh, what you're doing here again?” Tony asked.

“Uuhhhh, waiting.”

 “For what?”

“To start work. Does everyone always come in this late?”

“It's 0700.”

“In Mossad we start at 0500.”

“Okay, let me rephrase the original question: 'what the hell are you doing here, Ziva?”

“I see, Gibbs didn't tell you.” Ziva said.

“Tell me what?” Tony asked.

“Mossad has assigned me to NCIS as a Liaison Officer. We're going to be working together.”

“Uh-huh. Does Gibbs know about this?”

“He should. Mossad has assigned me to be a Liaison Officer. Here are my orders, signed by Director Sheppard.” Ziva said as she handed over the papers to Tony. She went and sat back down taking a drink of the coffee she had swiped from McGee.

“Does anyone have a key for this?”

“That’s Kate’s desk!” McGee said, obviously upset.

“Yes, when does Special Agent Gibbs come in?”

“Now.” Toy said seeing Gibbs walk off the elevator. He handed the folder back to Ziva.

“Special Agent Gibbs.” Ziva said, holding her hand out.

“Ziva.” Gibbs shook her hand. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I’m looking forward to working with you.” She told him. He raised an eyebrow before taking a drink of coffee and walking around her heading up to MTAC where he knew the Director would be.

“I stand corrected. It appears he didn’t know. I feel like a donkey's butt.” She said, walking back around the desk to sit down.

“Donkey's butt?” McGee asked Tony.

“I think she meant 'Horse's ass', McGee.”

“Yes, that, too.” Ziva said, sitting down.

 

** ~MTAC~ **

“Something I can help you with this morning, Special Agent Gibbs?” Jenny asked as Gibbs sat down next to her.

“Yeah, I've got a personnel issue, you know anything about that?”

“I take it Ziva arrived a few days early? Right. Before we get into this, I’m gonna need a refill.”

Gibbs flipped the lid off her coffee cup and then poured some of his coffee into her cup before setting it back down next to her.

“Well, that was sweet. Not necessarily sanitary, but sweet.”

“What is she doing here, Jen?” he asked pointedly.

“If we're going to fight a global war on terror, we need to work closely with our allies.” She told him, not realizing just what kind of problems she was causing.

“That's good, put her on somebody else's team, mine is full.”

“I want her with you, Jethro. You’re down one member so your team is not full.” She said, a petulant look on her face.

“My team **is** full Director. Plus Mossad trained her to spy and kill, not to investigate crime scenes. Send her to the CIA.”

“Just to be clear. This is not a request or a debate, Agent Gibbs. I know that it’s rather soon after Agent Todd’s Death but you need a fourth member.”

“Anything else you want to change about my team, while I'm here?” he asked, knowing that she was in for a rude awakening once Kate showed up later that day.

“This is not up for debate, end of conversation. Now, I have meetings that I need to attend and things that I need to oversee.” Jenny said standing up and leaving. Gibbs followed shortly after, angry that Jenny would try and replace Kate. She had apparently not gotten the memo that Agent Todd was alive and well and would be returning to work today.

He went downstairs and told Ziva to pack up her trash. Ziva misunderstood that he was telling her to get out. There were only a few people that knew the truth about what had happened that night and they knew he could trust Ziva. Once he’d set her straight and got the reason why she’d requested the assignment. Walking off the elevator Ziva went to sit at Kate’s desk and he stopped her, sending her to sit at the desk by McGee’s. Since Kate would be returning soon he couldn’t allow her to have that desk.

When they got the call about the Marine dressed as a Civil War Re-enactor he had her go along to observe and made sure that she handed over all of her weapons. He did let her keep the knife she had hidden at her waist. While they were busy tracking down leads he went to speak with the director who was once again watching from the balcony over the bullpen.

“She seems to be fitting in well.” The director said to him. That just made him angry and he was looking forward to the look on her face when their absent agent walked through the elevator doors.

“She almost killed my entire team yesterday.” He told her, stressing the fact that he wasn’t happy with it.

“How?”

“Driving home from a crime scene.”

“I should have warned you, I think she was an Eastern European cab driver in a past life.” Jenny told him just as the elevator doors dinged open. They watched as Tony looked up and smiled, the person that had just disembarked was just out of sight of the balcony.

“Kate! The doctor finally sign your return to work slip?” Tony called out just as the person walked into view. Gibbs smirked as he heard Jenny gasp in shock.

  
“Yes, Tony. It’s about time too. I wouldn’t want Gibbs to have to put up with you alone for too long.” Kate said jokingly. Looking around she noticed the woman standing near Tony and raised her eyebrow. “Who’s this Tony?”

“Oh, Special Agent Caitlin Todd meet our new Mossad Liaison Officer Ziva David.” Tony said, smirking slightly.

“Good to have you back Kate.” Gibbs said coming up behind Kate and startling her.

“It’s good to be back Gibbs.”

“Special Agent Gibbs, what is going on?” Director Sheppard said walking up to them, the anger obvious on her face and in her voice.

“Director Sheppard meet Special Agent Kate Todd. She’s been out on Medical Leave due to a broken leg. This is the missing member of my team that I mentioned earlier. She’s also the one that Ari Haswari tried to kill. We placed her in protective Custody when we realized that Ari was going after the women I work with and care about.” Gibbs told her, smirk firmly planted on his face.

“Why wasn’t I informed that Agent Todd wasn’t killed?”

“You were. If you actually read the memo’s on your desk you would know that and wouldn’t have assigned another member to my team.”

Ziva’s eyes were wide with shock when she realized that the woman that her half-brother had killed was actually alive.

“Who was on the rooftop with you if Agent Todd was out on leave?” Jenny asked.

“Special Agent Paula Cassidy. She was temporarily assigned to my team by Director Morrow because of the threat on my life. Kate was the one who was running the protection detail but Paula was the one who was standing in for Kate in backing me up.” Gibbs told her.

Jenny wasn’t sure what to do so she decided to keep Ziva on Gibbs’ team for now until she could figure out how to sort this mess out. Hopefully she wouldn’t have to send Ziva back to Mossad considering that she wanted to be away from there for a while.

Kate sat down at her desk while Tony filled her in on their current case and explained that Ziva was only observing for now. Once Kate was caught up she was a great help. She had discreetly shadowed Ducky, the Forensic Anthropologist Lady and Ziva when they went to track down landmarks of the map. She was the one to discreetly take care of the two men while Ziva took care of the female doctor.

Once they had wrapped up the case Gibbs watched as Kate took it upon herself to get to know Ziva, inviting her over to her place for dinner that night. Tony had been invited but had declined since he had plans. Gibbs knew that those plans were with Kelly but had no intentions of telling them that. He’d heard Ziva ask about the young woman who had visited him, which had been Kelly, and Tony’s response to her question. Tony was being cautious on who he told about Kelly and Gibbs was thankful of that. While he trusted Ziva to some extent she still believed that Kelly had been killed along with Shannon and he had no plans to change that knowledge yet. He’d also seen Jenny’s reaction to Gibbs with the unknown woman as well; how she didn't recognize her from the funeral he would never know. He knew their new director was jealous and wanted a chance to get back with him but there was no chance of that happening.

When Tony left he headed straight for Gibbs’ house where he would be picking Kelly up for her debut. He’d been teaching her to play the guitar since shortly after he’d met her and had also been teaching her to dance more than just a traditional Waltz. There was an Amateur Dance Competition going on at a local dance hall and then later they were going to a small Jazz Club that Tony went to where there was an Amateur Night happening.

Tony picked Kelly up, he whistled softly when he saw the beautiful flowing pale blue gown that Kelly was wearing. Thankfully he had been able to change before he’d left work and his suit matched her dress wonderfully. It was a pale charcoal suit with a pale blue dress shirt and polished black shoes. The dress brought out her eyes wonderfully and accented her natural figure beautifully. It wasn’t too revealing but it also wasn’t very stuffy either. She could pass as a member of High Society easily.

“You look stunning Kelly.” He said as he kissed her hand gently.

“Oh, Tony. You’re such a sweet talker.” She said giggling softly as she took his hand allowing him to lead her to his car.

Once they were on their way he glanced at Kelly from the corner of his eye. “You ready to dazzle them with our version of the Tango?”

“Yeah, just a little nervous. You remember the CD?”

“Yeah. It’s right here.” He patted the small bag that sat next to her on the seat.

Before long they had arrived at the dance hall and were seated, awaiting their turn to take the stage. Several contestants went up before their number was called. They headed back to the backstage and handed the DJ the CD.

“Number One.*” Tony told the man. When the first chords of the song began they heard the announcer and headed out onto the stage.  They started slow, like it was a traditional Tango but when the tempo picked up they began to pick up their pace, throwing in plenty of their own original moves in the process. Once the song had finished and they had taken their bows to the large amount of applause they headed off stage. Once the competition had finished and the pacings were announced they prepared to leave. They had placed 4th out of the 20 some odd pairs that had competed. It wasn’t bad ofr their first dancing competition. They would have stayed for the rest of the categories but if they wanted to make it to the Jazz Club they needed to leave right after the competition.

“That was fun!” Kelly exclaimed as they headed out to Tony’s car.

“Kelly! Hey Kelly wait a minute!” a male voice called out from behind them.

“What do you want Alex?” Kelly asked turning around to face the man.

“You were great up there. I thought maybe you’d like to give it another go. You know me and you would be great together,” he said, leering at her.

“I told you it’s over Alex. I’ve moved on and I’m not gonna fall for your lies again.” She told him spinning around to walk off.

He grabbed her arm and said “I lied? I never lied to you. C’mon Baby give me another chance.”

“Let me go Alex.”

“C’mon Baby, Don’t be like that.”

“I said let me go!”

“I’d let her go if I were you.” Tony said, having had enough of her ex-boyfriend.

“Fuck off old man! This is between me and my girl.”

“I’m not your girl Alex.” Kelly said ripping her arm from her ex-s grip.

“You are mine!”

Tony pulled his gun and flashed his badge in the asshole’s face, “I’m a federal Agent and if you don’t quit harassing Kells you’ll be sitting in a six by nine cell. Kelly go get in the car while I take care of this dirt bag.” Tony said, preparing for a brawl.

“Who the hell do you think you are old man?”

“None of your damn business. Now get the hell out of here!” Tony told him.

“I’ll have your badge for this! My dad’s a lawyer!” the kid called over his shoulder as he turned tail and ran.

“Don’t bet on it.” Tony mumbled as he got in his car. “That the ex that’s been stalkin’ you?” he asked Kelly once they were on their way to the club.

“Yeah, thanks for getting rid of him Tony. I was about to have dad scare him off if he didn’t leave me alone.”

“No problem Kelly. If he continues to bother you just tell me, I’ll take care of him. You know I’ll always have your six just like I do your dad’s.” he told her.

“I know, thanks Tony.” She leaned over and kissed him on his cheek.

“Don’t let your dad see you do that. He’ll think I’ve corrupted his baby girl.” Tony said with a laugh, knowing Gibbs had seen her do that several times already. He’d actually freaked out the first few times but Gibbs had explained that it was Kelly’s way of showing her affection and that she saw Tony as an Older Brother which had made Tony feel extremely relieved as he saw Kelly as the little sister he’d never had.

They arrived at the club and Tony parked the car before getting out and opening Kelly’s door like a gentleman.

“Why thank you kind sir.”

“You’re welcome milady.” He said exaggerating a high society British accent and making a sweeping bow. He then pulled out his guitar and linked his free arm with Kelly’s as they headed inside. Kelly would be playing the guitar while Tony would play the Piano. It was to be a haunting and melodic piece that they had created together through trial and error and was the first piece of music that Kelly had ever written. They hadn’t added lyrics because it was an instrumental. Once they had finished their piece they sat down and had a few drinks while listening to the others that performed. They left shortly after 0100 and Tony dropped Kelly off before heading home himself and crashing. He needed to be at work by 0700 so he needed to get at least a few hours of sleep.

TBC…

 

AN: Yes, I did take into account Ari being a sniper. In the episode Kill Ari (Part 1) I noticed that it wasn’t a very good scope and so if he fired before she was fully turned around he would have thought it was Kate. Hence the mentioning of Paula’s haircolor changing. Hope you enjoyed that particular twist. As always reviews are greatly appreciated and Flames (and the flamers) will be dealt with accordingly; most likely being fed to my dragon and sent to the Bog of Eternal Stench.

*The song that I am referring to can be found here: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C6xDjQ66wM> it’s Shakira’s Objection off of her album Laundry Service. It is the Spanish version as I think that one sounds better than the English version though both are good.

Also I have never been in any type of competition like the above one though I am from a musically inclined family so I do know my music and musical instruments so if it seems unrealistic I'm sorry.


	11. Chapter Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbetaed; all mistakes are mine entiely.  
> Discalimer: I don't own NCIS, nor any other recognizable characters.

** Chapter Ten **

Tony awoke to his alarm clock blaring and someone pounding on the door across the hall. He got up and headed to the bathroom. Turning on the water as he passed so it could heat up whilst he took a piss. He knew it would take a bit to heat up so he headed for his kitchen and a cup of coffee. He stared in puzzlement for a moment until he realized that the power must have gone out sometime last night. He reset his coffee maker and got that going before heading back to the bathroom to grab a shower before heading in to work. Once he’d showered and shaved he headed to his bedroom to get dressed. He was a little more awake but it was the clearing of a throat that had him jumping.

“Kelly! Do you mind? Wait a minute…what are you doing here anyway?” He asked as he grabbed his clothes and headed back to the bathroom, shutting the door and yelling through it.

“Well I was hoping that I could borrow the Bronco?* Please?”

“Why?”

“Well, we’re going on a trip for my geology class and it’s really muddy where we’re going. I don’t trust the bus driver’s not to get the buses stuck and I’d rather have a way home instead of having to either wait forever or call you or dad. Please, Tony?”

Walking out of the bathroom fully dressed he gave her a scrutinizing look, “I guess. Give me a minute to get some coffee and rustle up the keys okay.”

“Sure!” she said bouncing out of his room and into the living room. He shook his head at her antics, she was like an energizer bunny sometimes. It was enough to give **him** grey hair.

He made his coffee in one of his extra-large travel mugs before fishing the keys to his Bronco out of the jar that held all of his vehicle keys. He walked into the living room of his apartment and tossed the keys to Kelly, who caught them and gave him a huge smile.

“Thanks Tony!” she exclaimed bouncing over to him and hugging him before pecking his cheek and heading for the door. “I promise I’ll be careful and I’ll bring her back tonight or tomorrow depending on how late it is. Bye!” she called as she shut the door. He shook his head at her exuberance before glancing at his watch and cursing. He needed to get a move on himself unless he wanted to be late to work. He went back to the kitchen and grabbed the keys to the Supra** for a change of pace before heading out.

On his way to the Navy Yard he reminisced about how this car came to be in his possession.

_ %Flashback-Late 2002 Early 2003% _

_Tony and Gibbs had been on a case for a week and had just closed it up when Tony got a call from an unknown number._

_“DiNozzo.” He answered, his voice portraying how tired he was. There was silence on the other line so Tony just hung up._

_A few hours later he arrived at his apartment building to a very familiar car in his spot. He knew that car, he just couldn’t place where. He pulled in on the other side of his Bronco and warily got out. He kept his hand on his gun as he passed the familiar black car and an unfamiliar bright orange car, seeing no-one in either he headed in and up the stairs to his apartment. As he walked down the hall he saw a hulking figure and a lithe figure standing to either side of his door. He made sure his gun and badge weren’t visible as he got closer and kept his hand on the butt of said gun as discreetly as he could with a shoulder holster._

_“Gonna let us in Tony?” the slightly shorter figure said, his deep baritone rumbling like a jet engine even at a normal decibel._

_A deep sigh left him as he recognized that voice, “Dom I thought I recognized that hulking behemoth of a car. You scared the crap outta me, though.” He said as he grabbed his keys and opened the door to his apartment. “C’mon in, make yourselves comfortable. Who’s your friend?” he asked as he shut the door and toed his shoes off. Dom and the other man sat down on the couch and Tony plopped down on the recliner, not even bothering to shrug out of his shoulder holster or pull his badge from his belt._

_“Dom man he’s a cop! You tryin ta get us killed or somethin’!?” the other guy exclaimed moving away from Dom and him._

_“Bri, calm down. Tony’s family.” He said, gaining an incredulous look from this Bri guy._

_“ ‘M not a cop. Federal Agent, NCIS.” Tony said, hoping to ease the blonde’s discomfort._

_“Yeah, sure.” Bri mumbled._

_“Brian meet my cousin Tony DiNozzo, Tony, my…lover, Brian O’Connor.”***_

_“Cousin!?” Brian exclaimed in shock._

_“Yeah Dom’s my cousin. Who do you think taught him how to avoid cops? Cause he certainly didn’t learn that in Lompoc. I still need to give you a lecture on that Dom.”_

_“Hmph, yeah whatever Tony. Look we’re heading back to LA soon and we can’t take the Supra with us. It’s too noticeable there considering the LAPD still holds a grudge against me for turning one of their own from them, despite the circumstances.”_

_“Oh? And just what circumstances were those…wait a sec… **YOU’RE** the one that Fornell was laughing about? Hell Dom! I thought you knew better than to get caught up in anything like that, inadvertently or not.” Tony said, laughing._

_“Who?”_

_“Agent Tobias Fornell, FBI. He was laughing about some FBI guy that had someone pegged for some semi-jackings out in LA, even sent an LAPD cop UC but got screwed over ‘cause he wouldn’t listen. Something about blaming the guy cause of a violent record and the guy’s sister and his UC cop going at it. Hell it seems the only thing he had right was his UC was compromised in that he was banging the mark not the mark’s sister.” Tony laughed so more. “If I’d have known the Feebs were trying to pin something like that on you I’d have set them straight. Though you might not’ve met blondie there if I had.”_

_“Yeah, hence the LAPD not liking me or Bri. They see that Supra they’re gonna get us for the most inane of violations. Neither me or Brian want that nor do we want to sell it. It **IS** a ten second car after all. Figured you could use it. I know you miss the scene and don’t participate much for obvious reasons but I figured if you ever decided to you’d have a recognized vehicle. One that would have mouths wagging.” Dom gave Tony a look that said a lot._

_“So you want to give me a ten second car? What’s the catch?”_

_“For once there’s no catch. Car’s clean, not hot and it’s only had a few races but is known cause of Race Wars.”_

_“I see. The car goes in my name and under my insurance and you’ve got a deal. It’ll be nice to have another car other than the Corvette.” Tony knew Dom wouldn’t lie to him, never could lie to him considering that Tony had risked his career for the younger man._

_“No problem.”_

_They continued to sit around Bullshitting and he let Dom and Brian crash on his couch while he headed to bed. It was a good thing that they had 24 hours off otherwise it would have been a long day at work._

_ %End Flashback% _

He wasn’t paying much attention to his speed and before he knew it he was driving more dangerously than Gibbs. His Uncle Nico(4*) had taught him well, which explained why he was able to adjust to Gibbs’ driving rather quickly and Ziva’s didn’t really faze him as much as he’d pretended it did. He pulled into the yard at alarming speeds even for those used to Gibbs’ driving. When he got out of his car he smiled and waved at the wide-eyed security guards before jogging to the front entrance and making his way inside.

Their first case after Kate returned was a confusing one. A Petty Officer had been shot in his car on his way to work. They had found out that Petty Officer Smith had switched places with a friend after having slept with another officer’s wife. The man had caught Smith and his wife and when Smith was transferred to from Pearl he was happy, until he’d found out that he’d slept with his soon to be new CO’s wife. They found out that the man who had taken Smith’s identity had been doing something illegal but they weren’t sure what illegal substance he had been transporting.

It wasn’t until they realized that Petty Officer Smith had tried to tell them who had killed him that they really got the case moving. Their first suspect after having identified the smears that Smith had left was his CO. It turned out that the CO hadn’t left his office nor would he have been able to sneak out another way to commit the murder. Smith’s CO didn’t even know that Smith was the one that had slept with his wife. After reviewing the smears they realized they weren’t the letter M but instead, because of the Petty Officers contorted Position were the letter W. They confronted the Petty Officer’s wife and found out that she had killed him because he had cheated on her on their wedding day.

Once they had closed the case Abby showed up and told Gibbs that the bomb squad had gotten a little carried away and had blown the case and its unknown contents to less than smithereens. Ziva had said something to Abby that had Kate smirking. She knew that Abby didn’t like Ziva and the reason why. When Abby left to go put the pieces back together Ziva followed her and offered to help Abby.

TBC…

*The vehicle I had in mind is an ‘84 Bronco II; bucket seats, roll cage, 3" Body Lift, 4.5" Suspension Lift, running on 32’s. My brother had one and it was dead useful when it came to muddy areas. Not to mention four wheel drive and is a great vehicle to take mudding…or for scaring the shit outta people by doing 360’s on a small road right next to a cliff ;) My opinion is that Tony would have more than one vehicle especially living on the east coast. Muscle Cars and/or Classic Cars, especially well cared for ones, are **NOT** to be driven in snow, so most people have another vehicle or two for the fall and winter months. Me, I tend to drive my Cavalier RS all year round, including taking it mudding :D because gas is expensive as all fuck and the ‘82 Chevy Silverado is a gas hog.

** ‘94 Toyota Supra, Targa Top, 2JZ Engine modified, bucket seats w/ 5 point harnesses for racing, standard transmission, NOS and everything else. Think Brian O’Connor. ;)

 *** Yes I **AM** talking about Dominic Toretto and Brian O’Connor. The Fast and The Furious. As if I need to tell you that. They may or may not show up again, I haven’t decided yet. If they do it won’t be as a major part of the story line.

****Dom’s father is never mention specifically by name and so I came up with my own -_-’


	12. Chapter Eleven

** Chapter Eleven **

A few weeks had passed since Kelly’s field trip and she had subsequently borrowed Tony’s Bronco three more times for similar field trips. Ziva was slowly assimilating into theair team. Her and Kate bickered and it gave Tony a chance to do his job without either Kate or Ziva on his case. Director Sheppard had hired a lab assistant for Abby which Tony had heard all about. Abby couldn’t stand Chip and wished he would get run over by a bus, something they all wished. Gibbs wasn’t happy with Director Sheppard either.

Kelly had visited right before Tony had had to go Undercover with Ziva as a married couple. Tony hadn’t like it and neither had Kate, she’d even offered to go under as Tony’s wife instead of Ziva but Madam Director nixed that idea rather quickly. Him and Gibbs had shared a look at that and knew that she was up to something but not what. When Kelly had visited them at work she’d first hugged her dad then Tony and Sheppard had seen it all. Ziva was confused as she didn’t know who this young woman was but she seemed too young for either Gibbs or Tony to actually date.

Kelly and Tony talked about her classes and about their next movie night. They were planning to go last week but a case had come up and they had postponed it. Ziva was trying to get answers about the mystery woman from Kate and all Kate would tell her was to ask Gibbs or Tony. Smart woman. Kelly had also seen something in Director Sheppard’s eye as she watched them converse. She didn’t like what she saw at all.

When she found out that Jenny had made sure Ziva was the one to go undercover with Tony she had stormed into the woman’s office and given her a piece of her mind. She had made sure that Jenny knew that if she **ever** sent Tony undercover blind like that again she’d have her hide not to mention sending Tony in with someone whom he had never been undercover with before. It could have gotten him killed. She wasn’t concerned in any way about Ziva’s safety just Tony’s. Jenny had wanted to know what kind of relationship she had with Tony and Gibbs. Kelly told her it was none of her business and spun around and walked out much like Gibbs did.

About a week later Tony was awoken from his sleep by his cell phone.

“DiNozzo.” He mumbled.

_~ “Tony, Kelly’s been kidnapped”_ Gibbs said, his voice filled with anger and fear.

“What?! When?” Tony sat bolt upright in bed and began a frantic scramble for clothes.

_~ “I don’t know when. She called me, I could hear it in her voice that something was wrong. Someone threw her phone before I could get anything from her.”_

“Damnit! She mentioned something about a field trip for her geology class. She borrowed the Bronco…Three days ago. She did say it would last two days so she should have returned. You at home?”

_~ “Yeah.”_

“Okay, you stay there and I’ll be there in…15 minutes. Boss?”

_~ “Yeah, DiNozzo?”_ Gibbs said, obviously worried.

“We’ll find her if we have to tear the whole of the east coast apart.” Tony hung up as he grabbed the keys to the Supra knowing that it would be faster then his Corvette because of its modifications. He made it to Gibbs’ house in ten minutes.

Once there he called McGee and Kate and had them go to the yard and put out a BOLO on his Bronco. That would give them a start once it was found. Twenty minutes later they got a hit on Tony’s Bronco. Gibbs went to his car and Tony looked at him, “Boss, I think you should ride with me. Trust me on this my car will be faster than your truck especially with the modifications my cousin did.”

“Not if you’re driving it DiNozzo.” Gibbs growled.

“Just… get in the car Boss. Trust me on this one I know what I’m doing.” Tony told the man.

Gibbs grumbled but got in the passenger seat anyway. He managed to figure out the harness system and once he was secured Tony tore out of the driveway like a bat outta hell. He had the Supra going full out heading towards Virginia where his Bronco had been found. As the turn came up for the road that they needed to take to get to the parking lot Tony told Gibbs to hang on and did a perfect drift around the turn before peeling off down the road. They pulled into the lot and got out to inspect the scene. They found what looked to be some small drops of blood, most likely from a head wound.

Three hours later Tony and Gibbs were in pursuit of their suspect in Tony’s Supra. It was another kid from Kelly’s class. The kid managed to get a bit of a lead before Tony decided to chance it and hit the NOS. He pulled even with the other car then pulled ahead of it spinning the Supra around in front of their kidnapper. The guy slammed on the brakes and Tony and Gibbs jumped out Guns drawn. Kelly was tied up in the backseat. Once they had the guy in custody they learned that Kelly had turned him down several times but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. Thankfully he hadn’t had time to do anything other than knocking her out and tying her up.

A week after the kidnapping and Tony was being accused of murder. When Director Sheppard told Gibbs that she had no choice but to call in the FBI he wanted to make sure that Fornell was the one that ran the investigation. When Kelly found out that Tony was being accused of Murder she showed up at NCIS and said she’d be Tony’s alibi even though she was only with him for part of the night. Gibbs and the rest of the team knew that Tony would never commit such a heinous crime but Tony wouldn’t let Kellly lie so that he had an alibi for the whole time even though they didn’t know the date or time that the woman had been murdered.

Eventually Fornell had no choice but to take Tony into custody and then book him. Gibbs visited Tony while he was in holding and Tony had a brief break down. Gibbs motioned him over to the bars and gave him a headslap before raising his chin as if saying ‘keep your chin up.’ He headed back to try and get more information and shortly after that Kelly showed up to visit Tony. She tried to convince him to let her help him but he wouldn’t let her do that even if they both knew he was innocent. They would have to let Abby and her knowledge of Forensics clear him.

Gibbs had Kelly help McGee, Kate and Ziva track down all of Tony’s previous arrests that may have had a grudge in any way. Eventually they came up with two names; Lieutenant Pam Kim and George Stewart.

Gibbs had McGee and Kelly track down George Stewart whilst he sent Kate and Ziva to bring in the lieutenant. Ziva and Kate had found her and her new husband flagrante delicto, Once he had finished interviewing the lieutenant he walked out into the hall and ended up running into Jenny whilst talking with Ziva.

“Ass kissing on the hill is a skill.” Gibbs told her.

“So is castration.”

“I wear a cup.” He said, glaring at her. He didn’t really wear a cup but she wouldn’t know that.

She handed him a piece of paper. “What is this?” he asked her.

“George Stewart’s alias and work address. I managed to find it between kissing asses.” She told him before walking off. He just glared after her before heading back to the bullpen to get one of his team to go with him to talk with Stewart.

They found out who the severed legs belonged to only to meet with the woman and find out that she had given blood to a crash victim who had died not long after on the operating table; which left them with a Jane Doe once again. Eventually though, Gibbs had gotten the warrant he needed to inspect Stewart’s place of work. There him, Ziva and Kate found their missing Jane Doe. When Tony walked into the bullpen he was bombarded by Kelly.

“Tony!” she yelled, flinging herself into his arms and holding onto him.

“Hey, I’m fine Kelly. I told you Gibbs would find the truth and get me out.” He said, rubbing her back to calm her down.

“Kelly, don’t strangle DiNozzo.” Gibbs told her just as Director Sheppard walked into the bullpen with the court record from Stewart’s case against Baltimore PD. Late, but it still helped. As Gibbs was looking through the transcripts he came across a pictre and dropped the paperwork before running down to Abby’s lab, Tony, Kelly, Kate, McGee and Ziva hot on his heels. Jenny looked at the page that Gibbs had left open and headed after them.

“Abby!” Gibbs called as him and Tony walked into the lab with their guns drawn. The place was a mess and Abby was sitting in her computer chair slumped over. She spun around and looked at them with this odd look in her eyes before tuning to Director Sheppard.

“Now can I work alone?” she asked as she stood there, Chip behind her on the floor bound and gagged with what looked like Duct Tape. Gibbs and Tony shared a look as they saw Jenny’s reaction. She was finally learning why Abby worked alone, and would maybe be more careful when hiring personell in the future. Kelly had to hide a smirk at the director’s look of chagrin.

TBC…

AN: As always reviews are greatly appreciated and all flamers and flames will be dealt with by being fed to my pet Dragon.


	13. Chapter Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbetaed: All mistakes are my own.  
> Disclaimer: I Don;t Own NCIS.

** Chapter Twelve **

After all of the excitement of Chip trying to frame Tony they all hoped that things would be relatively normal for a while. Unfortunately their next case wasn’t normal. Once again one of their own was in danger of going to jail. Gibbs had managed to talk the director into letting them investigate the circumstances as opposed to Metro or the FBI. He’d told her in no uncertain terms that if either got their hands on the case they wouldn’t care about finding the truth; especially since Fornell wouldn’t be able to be the lead investigator and Metro’s motives were rather questionable not to mention their involvement.

McGee was feeling down and reflecting about his background as opposed to the other members of his team. He even said as much to Tony.

“I'm not like you guys. You were trained as a cop, Gibbs was a marine sniper, Kate protected the president of the United States. Who knows what Ziva did in Mossad.” He’d said. He really was different then all of his teammates and their boss. Thankfully things had been cleared up and the case solved with McGee not going to jail.

Their next few cases were relatively normal with the exception of Tony getting trapped in a shipping container with Ziva. Kate had protested about Ziva being the one to go with Tony but Gibbs had shot her down. By the time they realized what was going on Gibbs wished he had sent Kate with Tony; at least she wouldn’t continuously antagonize Tony anymore, or shoot him. Especially since he hadn’t actually gone to dinner at Ziva’s, neither had Kate or Abby. Thankfully they had found them and they were relatively unharmed.

Kate had been planning on taking Tony home when Kelly had shown up and once again wrapped Tony in a hug of relief. If it weren’t for the fact that he knew Kelly had no interest in Tony and vice-versa he would’ve been worried about her constantly tackling his senior field agent. It certainly was an interesting ruse. Kate had assumed Tony and Kelly were dating, so had McGee and, later, Ziva. Kelly had ended up taking Tony home and getting him settled, all the while glaring at Ziva since when she had walked in she’d heard Ziva’s comments about Tony’s wound only being a scratch. Gibbs hadn’t been too happy with the other woman either but had kept silent; especially since he could see Jenny once again watching his team from the balcony by MTAC.

Several weeks later and Tony was reading his email at work. Of course Ziva had to be nosy and look over his shoulder while he did so. Kate just shook her head at Ziva’s nosiness. She was even worse than Tony had been before things had gone all wacky with the plague then her being targeted by a terrorist.

“I didn't know your nickname was Honey Buns.” She said to him.

Gibbs came walking around the corner having heard Ziva and decided to be playful at work. “Only Naomi and I call him that.” He said as he walked past them. It was true after all. Only Naomi was Kelly and it was a running joke between the three of them since Tony continued to fool the other University students into thinking he was Kelly’s boyfriend. Gibbs had picked up on Kelly’s nickname for Tony and when he was at home often joked about it with them. Tony’s deer in the headlights look was amusing but he had a very good come back.

“Didn’t think you were gonna say anything about that boss.”

That case was a very odd case. It was one of the few times that their new director actually proved to be helpful and relatively nice. Tony wouldn’t think about what she was implying by saying that whatever Gibbs didn’t know couldn’t hurt them.

Gibbs was able to return the captain’s ashes to his widow and daughter in time for them to take his cremains to the ship so that his ashes could be spread across the ocean. It was a better ending to the case then they usually got.

A few weeks later and shit hit the fan once again. A student had taken his homeroom class hostage; a bomb strapped to his chest. NCIS and SRT were called in. SRT had already set up a command post by the time they arrived on the scene. The child that was holding the classroom hostage; Kody Myers.

They had managed to get him to send one of the kids out and had questioned her for any pertinent information she might have. Kody had only let her go so she could get another girl, Nadia’s, inhaler with orders to be the one to bring it back.

The robot they had planned to use to take the inhaler to nadia needed a diagnostic that would take twenty minutes, unfortunately they didn’t have twenty minutes. Gibbs grabbed an earwig and mike along with the inhaler before leaving.

“Ziva, tell Tony channel Two.” He said as he left.

“Channel two.” She replied.

Gibbs walked right into the classroom and gave Nadia her inhaler. Kody wanted Stephanie, the girl he’d let go, back in the classroom. Gibbs wouldn’t let that happen.

“She’s fine now get out!” Kody yelled in anger.

“I’m a valuable hostage, Kody.” Gibbs told him, they needed someone in the classroom. Once again Gibbs’ blatant disregard for his own life showed through. When Tony found out he cursed under his breath in Italian. He knew someone would need to let Kelly know about Gibbs becoming a hostage.

“More valuable than a room full of kids? Get out now or we all die!!!”

“You’re surrounded by Marines who all think you’re crazy. Kody, I’m the last chance you have of getting out of here alive.” Gibbs told him matter-of-factly.

Shut the door!” Kody told Gibbs, who shut the door before coming back to stand by Nadia.

“Search him.” He said to Joe, hitting him in the shoulder to get him moving. Joe gave him a look that said, _‘How am I supposed to search him?’_

“Like they do on Cops!” Kody yelled, moving his arms around. Joe began to pat him down.

“Empty his pockets!” Kody told him.

 “Now I know why Gibbs didn’t go armed. Where’s Stephanie?” Ziva said while they listened to the audio feed and watched the video feed from outside the classroom.

“With her folks.” Tony told her.

Ziva thought Kody was very well trained and that he was making a political statement. She hadn’t been in the States long enough to know that most kids were not like those in Israel. Kate snorted at her lack of knowledge and the idea that Kody was trying to make a political statement.

“We can end this now, Kody. Tell me what you want. I’ll get it for you.”

“I’m not making demands until I speak to a negotiator.

“I am the negotiator.”

“They wouldn’t send the negotiator busting through the door. I’m not stupid.”

“No one says you are.”

“Just be quiet! Hurry up!” Kody screamed. He continued to rant that Gibbs would not be able to make friends with him.

_%%NCIS- Director’s Office%%_

Jenny grabbed her gun and had just stepped around the edge of her desk when there was a knock on the door. Cynthia poked her head in and said, “Director Shepard, Doctor Mallard is here to see you.”

“Send him in, Cynthia.” She nodded and Ducky walked through the door,

“Anything new?” he asked once he had entered her office.

“I just got off the phone with DiNozzo. Still no contact.”

“What exactly happened?” He asked her, concern in his voice, he knew Kelly was currently pacing Abby’s lab.

“Jethro happened, Ducky. He went in to deliver a sick girl’s inhaler, and got invited to stay.” She told him, slightly sarcastically.

“Yeah, but how could he—of course. He probably planned the whole thing.”

“Jethro doesn’t plan, Ducky. He follows his damn gut.” She said, obviously annoyed.

“Well, it usually serves him well.”

“It also gets him into trouble.”

“You would only be a hindrance down there.” He said knowingly.

“What makes you think…?”

“You’re wearing your sidearm.”

“Gibbs was my partner, Ducky. For a long time. I cannot just sit by here and do nothing.”

“Well of course, not. Nobody expects you to do nothing.”

“Cynthia!” Jenny called out to her assistant, who poked her head into the door. “I want a direct feed into DiNozzo’s command post, ASAP.”

“Yes, Director.” She said, heading out to get that set up.

“That is a good decision, Director.” Ducky told her, knowing that her interfering would only serve to piss both Tony and Gibbs off, not to mention Kate.

_%%Administration Office Command Post%%_

 “Captain, your team’s are in place?” Tony asked the SRT lead, Kate and Ziva looking on.

“We’ve got three snipers in position, Sir. If the target looks out the blinds again…?” Capatin Wise told him.

“No one takes a shot unless I clear it. You’re with me.” Tony said motioning for Captain Wise and Kate to follow him, leaving Ziva at the command post.

 “Where are you going?” Ziva asked as the three of them walked out.

“To talk to Kody.”

Gibbs told Kody to stay away from the windows, hoping that he would listen to him. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that there was a thermostat partially hidden. He went over to it and turned it up as high as he could while staying discreet. Kody though he’d done something but he hadn’t actually seen Gibbs do anything. Gibbs was beginning to get the picture but couldn’t quite put it into contact yet.

“Kody, this is Special Agent DiNozzo. How’s Nadia?” Gibbs heard his senior field agent’s voice come through the door. He knew that things were in capable hands with Tony as the acting lead.

 “She’s fine for now.” Kody told him. That was a relief to hear for Tony and Kate.

“How are the other kids?”

“They’re fine, okay?!” Kody yelled.

“Well, I’d love to take your word on that. But I’m going to need some proof, Kody. Open the door.”

“No! No way! You try to get in here… I’m… I’m…I’m setting this off!”

“No one’s coming in. I’d like to speak to Special Agent Gibbs.” Tony told him, trying to keep him calm.

“Everybody’s okay, Boss.” Gibbs told him, hoping to keep up the ruse that he was the negotiator and knowing Tony would catch on.

“Well, that’s good to hear… Special Agent Gibbs.” Tony almost fumbled that one. Kate gave him a knowing look and he glared at her.

“Your agent says he’s a negotiator.”

“Well, that’s right. He’s my best man.”

“Well your best man’s a moron for getting caught in here.”

“He always had an attitude problem.” Tony said, knowing he’d be getting a headslap for that remark later.

“We’re all going to work on this together. What do you say to that, Kody?”

“You know what, I want the man in charge. Not the field commander. The one who makes the final decision.” Kody told him.

“That’s me, Kody.”

“If I ask for an airplane and a million dollars, would you just give it to me?”

“Is that what you want?” Tony asked, hoping to get an idea of why he was holding his class hostage.

“Answer my question!” Kody yelled.

“I’ll make some calls.”

“Are you the man or not!?” Kody screamed, obviously wanting a straight answer.

“I’m the one you want.”

“Bring my mother to the classroom. No deals, no stalling. You have until sundown. If you… if you can’t do that, then…. everyone dies.” Tony shared a look with Kate at the demand.

When Tony and Kate got back to the command post Kody’s father was waiting with Ziva. That’s when they found out that Kody’s mother was dead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Kody! Is something wrong in there?” Tony asked as he stood outside of the door, having heard the last bit of the conversation.

“What the hell are you doing here?!” Kody screamed at him.

“Giving you an update. I want to let you know that Special Agent Paula Cassidy is out looking for your mom.

“Don’t come back until you find her! I… I won’t tell you again!”

“All right, I’m going.” Tony said before walking down the hall with Kate and Wise.

“How are you going to tell Gibbs the kid’s mom’s dead?” Captain Wise asked as they walked back to the command post. Kate knew but would let Tony take the lead on this.

“I already did. Special Agent Cassidy is dead.” Tony’s phone began to ring just then. “DiNozzo.” He said as he answered it. It was the Director’s assistant Cynthia. Apparently Sheppard wanted to speak with him.

_~“He wants his dead mother brought to the classroom?”_

“He won’t accept that she’s dead. He thinks he saw her recently.”

_~“That’s an impossible demand.”_

“I know, Director. I’m working on it.” Tony told her, frustrated at her interference.

_~“Define working on it, Agent DiNozzo.”_

“SRT’s in place. Working on getting visual access into the room and a way to contact Gibbs.”

_~“And?”_

“And we’re just getting started.”

_~“What’s your deadline?”_

“Sundown. About five hours.”

_~“How powerful is the bomb?”_

“Uh, don’t know yet. Sciuto and Agent McGee are going through the kid’s computer and everything found in his room. Trying to work out what the explosive is.” Tony was beginning to get pissed at the director’s continuous line of questioning. Her interference was beginning to grate on his nerves.

_~“Does he have a dead-man switch?”_

“Hoping Sciuto and McGee can tell us that.”

_~“And if he doesn’t?”_

“You want me to take him out.” Tony said, disgusted at the thought. Kate was looking at him knowing that the Director was beginning to get under Tony’s skin.

_~“It may be your only option.”_

“I’d like to get them all out alive, Director… Including Kody.”

_~“I agree. But if it’s not possible, I need to know that you’re capable of making the call.”_

“I’ve done it before.”

_~“On a fifteen year old? If the time comes you cannot hesitate, you cannot second guess yourself...”_

 Tony, who was becoming increasingly agitated and annoyed tossed his hat at a computer near a desk and walked over to the video feed of the hallway.

“Okay, if you don’t trust me, I suggest you relieve me. Otherwise, leave me alone. I’ve got work to do, Ma'am.” Tony told her before slamming his phone shut on the director and throwing it down on the counter next to the video feed. Kate shook her head knowing that Director Sheppard had just pissed Tony off and that pissing him off was never a good thing.

Kate called Kelly and handed the phone to Tony knowing that she would be able to calm him down.

_~ “Tony? How’s my dad? Is he okay? What were you thinking letting him walk right into a hostage situation like that? What…”_

“Kelly calm down. He’s fine and it was his decision to go in there not anyone else’s. I didn’t know until after he’d already headed in. If I had known he wouldn’t have walked in there I would have. Okay”

_~“Okay. How are you going to get them out of there? I know you can’t tell me much but I’m going crazy here.”_

“I don’t know Kelly. I’m workin’ on it though. We know what the kid wants we just have to figure out how to give it to him. Look Kelly, Can you have Abby call me? I need to speak with her and McGee.”

_~“Okay Tony. Please keep me updated as much as possible.”_

“Will do, Kells.” Tony hung up, much like Gibbs. He felt much calmer now.

_%%NCIS- Director’s Office%%_

“Gibbs has rubbed off on him.” Jenny said to Ducky when she heard the dial tone of DiNozzo hanging up on her.

“Well, that’s a positive thing.” Ducky told her. It meant that Tony was learning even more in his opinion.

“He isn’t Gibbs, Ducky.”

“No, but he’s very capable.” Ducky told her before they continued to converse about the boy’s demands.

_%%School%%_

Tony, Ziva and Kate were in the command post when a sniper told them that he had the shot. Tony told them not to shoot. His gut was telling him that there was more to this kid’s situation than met the eye. He was right when, once Abby and McGee had patched into the computers in the classroom and Gibbs managed to let them know that someone was controlling Kody and therefore the bomb. Kate then had the Captain of the SRT team search for earwig frequencies.

As they were waiting for the confirmation that they had found the feeds and were able to find them. Tony knew that if they were to get everyone ut of the classroom they would need some ingenuity. He took a page out of Keanu Reeves’ book and did the same thing that they had done in Speed. He planned to never let McGee live down the fact that he’d called Tony boss. Kate knew it as did Ziva.

Before they knew it they had all of the kids out of the classroom and the bomb was dismantled. They had managed to find the people who had been controlling Kody and him, Gibbs and Kate had gone and arrested the men. It turns out that it was a Columbian Drug Cartel that had wanted the boy’s mother for something that had happened 18 years previously. Kody’s mother had went into hiding to protect her son and husband with NCIS’s help.

Tony, Kate, McGee, Abby, Kelly and Ziva were all seated around Tony’s desk conversing about the case. Kelly was just glad that her dad was okay and that no-one was hurt. Kelly asked Tony if they were still on for Saturday, pending Tony didn’t get called out on a case. Tony confirmed they were still on for their Sturday night plans. He planned to teach her more about playing the guitar before they would go catch a movie.

TBC…

AN: There is a LOT of Dialogue in this chapter because I, once again, couldn’t find a good way to summarize the episode that is described. Sorry, it happens to me sometimes. It took a while for me to get into the groove of summarizing the episode. As always Reviews, Comments, Constructive Criticism is welcomed but Flames will be given to my dragon and Flamers sent to the Everglades to be eaten.


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbetaed; all mistakes are my own.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS.

** Chapter Thirteen **

The next day at work was rather boring until a normal case came in. It was one of their easiest cases so far, including when it was just Tony and Gibbs. It all boiled down to a Chief Petty Officer having an affair with another man. The CPO’s wife had found out about the affair and stabbed the civilian that her husband was seeing. Fortunately he hadn’t actually died like she’d thought. Unfortunately it meant it was only Attempted Murder so she would probably get out sooner. It also meant that there could be problems when she did get out but hopefully it wouldn’t be for a while. Thankfully the man’s two children were at school but any case that involved children was always hard on the team; Gibbs especially.

Once the reports had been finished and everyone had headed home Tony decided to swing by Gibbs’ house, knowing the older man he’d be in his basement working on the boat. When Tony got to Gibbs’ place he walked right in, knowing that his door was always open. He headed straight for the basement and sat down on the bottom steps watching as Gibbs and Kelly worked on the boat. Eventually they began to talk about anything that came to mind, Gibbs pouring each of them some bourbon as they did so. Somehow Kelly ended up convincing her dad to let Tony help with the boat and Tony to actually help. Only She wasn’t tall enough to show Tony what to do. It ended uo being Gibbs standing behind Tony and showing him how to sand the boat and check for the correct smoothness. Neither man noticed Kelly small smile of triumph at getting them closer than they would normally get.

Apparently both Tony and Gibbs had drank more than normal, thankfully they had both worked with Hangover’s before. Before the three of them had called it a night they had all been laughing like crazy over one thing or another; pften times at Tony or Kelly’s expense. Gibbs would tell Tony of some of the things that Kelly had done when she was younger and Tony in turn, would tell the two Gibbs’ of some of his more memorable cases or days in College. Both Gibbs’ had decided that Tony wouldn’t be driving home and so he ended up crashing on the couch since he didn’t feel like trying to climb two sets of stairs to the guest room.

The next morning Tony woke up with a raging headache and in need of some Tylenol. Kelly had already left because she had an early class but Gibbs was there. When Tony showed up in his kitchen he pointed to the table that held two pills and a glass of water. Tony downed the pills and water gratefully. He took a quick look at his boss and knew it would be a rare sight, Gibbs obviously suffering from a hangover.

“How ‘bout we never let Kelly pour drinks for us ever again?” Tony mumbled as Gibbs handed him a mug filled with coffee and pointed to the counter that had milk and sugar out for him. Gibbs grunted in agreement. How he’d ever let Kelly talk him into letting her pour the drinks he would never know. She had kept them flowing long after he normally would have stopped. Once they’d both been properly caffeinated and Tony had made use of the bathroom and changed into the clothes he kept in his go bag they headed to work. It would end up being a long day.

Thankfully they hadn’t caught a case so were able to actually leave on time for once. Tony headed home to crash on his couch with a movie and pizza. While Gibbs headed home to work on the boat before Kelly came home; she had decided that staying on Campus would be too much of a hassle so she’d stayed living with Gibbs. She may have gotten a lot of flack for it but she was able to save more money than other students who had parents living in the area and had moved out once they hit 18. They had bills and rent, all Kelly had was a car payment, car insurance registration, inspection and maintenance to deal with.* She had offered to pay some form of rent, but her dad had nixed that thought pretty quickly. She did pay for the internet though because she often needed it for research.

Tony had headed to bed but was tossing and turning. He kept replaying the night before at Gibbs’ over and over in his head. He groaned as he remembered the heat of the other man’s body pressed up behind his as he was shown how to sand the boat. He knew he had it bad for his boss, he also knew that only Kelly knew he was Bi. Groaning he rolled over onto his back and let one of his favourite fantasies play out in his brain. He reached down and grasped his already aching cock and slowly began to stroke himself, imagining it was Gibbs’ hands on his body. He ran his thumb up over the head of his cock, smearing the precum that had gathered there.

As he continued to stroke himself he reached with his other hand and managed to fumble open the drawer on his nightstand. Reaching in he grabbed the bottle of lube and popped it open with one hand, drizzling the scented lube over his hand and cock, easing the friction and enhancing his pleasure. He felt the cold lube begin to warm and trickle down onto his balls. He re-capped the lube and began toying with a nipple. He pinched it, gasping as it sent a shockwave of pleasure zinging along his spine to his groin.

He trailed his hand down past his cock and began to stroke and fondle his balls as he released his dick. He trailed his other hand down and managed to twist enough that he could slowly work a finger into his body. He gasped at the sensation. He didn’t do this often enough to be used to the feeling of invading digits. He managed to strike his prostate a few times before it became too much of a strain and he removed his fingers from his body.

He trailed his hands back up his body and pinched and twisted his nipples, trailing a hand back down and stroking his leaking cock. He continued to stroke himself, imagining it was Gibbs’ hand stroking his cock, Gibbs’ hand teasing his nipples. He began to tremble from the strain of holding back, before finally he came with a muffled shout.

“Jethro!”

Tony lay panting on his bed, skin glistening with sweat and come. He managed to reach over and snag a tissue to clean up the worst of the mess on his stomach and chest before bringing his hand up and licking a few stray drops off his fingers before tossing the used tissues into the wastebasket and collapsing back onto the bed. He snagged the cover from its tangled position around his left leg and pulled it over himself and falling asleep. Unbeknownst to him Gibbs had just finished jacking off to a fantasy of Tony as well. Neither man had any idea that they both wanted the same thing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few days later and they caught an interesting case. A body was found frozen in a pond at Rock Creek Park. While they were searching the iced over pond they spotted three more bodies, bringing the total body count to four. Three of those bodies were gang members; part of the Manassas chapter of LVM. Tony took it upon himself to stay overnight at Rock Creek Park the night after they caught the case to oversee the draining of the pond and he collected three guns. When he brought them back to NCIS and showed them to Gibbs. As Gibbs went to leave he looked at Tony’s slightly pouty look.

“You expecting an 'Atta Boy'?” he asked him. If Tony ever found out what that pouty look did to him he would use it every chance he got.

“I thought it would be nice.”

Gibbs walked back to Tony and stroked the back of his head, ruffling the hair there. _‘Soft’_ he thought before saying, “Atta Boy.” and heading out with Ziva and McGee. Tony smiled and rubbed his head where Gibbs had stroked him. Gibbs had unknowingly given Tony more fuel for his fantasies.

They had cracked the case even if it had taken them four days to do it, unfortunately no jury would convict Cesar Bernal on what they had. Gibbs had sweet talked the director into a plan that would get Cesar off the streets and allow their Marines to come home without fear of reprisals.

Tony and McGee were arguing about who would go into interrogation first when Kate took it into her own hands to try and sweet talk Cesar into confessing. Ziva went next and had to plnt her botted foot against Cesar’s croth because of his rudeness. McGee followed then Tony, who just sat across from him and played tetris on his phone. Gibbs came in while he was listening to his MP3 player and took Cesar home. He knew that his fellow gangsters would take care of Cesar for him after what he had shown them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Their next case as one of espionage. Someone was stealing secrets from the pentagon and NCIS had been questioning those in the department where the information was being stolen from. At first glance it looked like suicide, but after further examination it was found to be murder. Ducky had had to bring his mother to work because her nurse had taken off that morning. It meant that Mrs. Mallard ended up running around the building and after attempting to get into MTAC flirting with Gibbs. Thankfully Kelly would not hear about that. They solved the case after thinking it was a foreign diplomat when it turned out to be the man in charge of the murdered woman’s unit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Their next big case came a few days later. There was a bloodbath at a hotel that was used by naval personnel and their visiting families. Tony, Ziva and Kate were in the room when Ziva noticed a piece of paper and asked a question.

“Red Rum?”

“All we’re missing is a kid on a big wheel and a man in a bear suit.” Tony said, Kate smirked knowing it had to be a movie reference.

“And in your head, that made sense to you?” Ziva asked.

“Yeah. It’s The Shining, Ziva.” Tony told her, noticing Kate’s look. It seems even Kate had seen that movie.

Unfortunately it wasn’t very long later that Abby and McGee were in her lab while she was testing some cocaine found at the scene and she smelled almonds. Cyanide Gas; someone was trying to kill Abby. Gibbs and Director Sheppard were down talking with the HAZMAT unit that had been called in to clear Abby’s lab when Tony showed up.

“How did this happen?” Director Sheppard asked, looking at Gibbs.

 “Abby said the coke was bad. It contained Potassium Cyanide which turned gaseous when she added the… uh the acidified Cobalt Thyocyanate from her drug test kit.” Tony told them, fumbling over the name of the chemical.

“So this was an accident?” Jenny said questioningly.

“Abby doesn’t have accidents.” Gibbs told her.

“Well Abby also doesn’t have enemies. It’s not like we’re talking about Agent DiNozzo.”

“Hey… Ma’am.” Tony said, affronted.

“The crime scene was a set-up, Director.

“And right now Abby’s our best lead. While she and McGee were playing in the showers, Kate and I took a walk through the world of Sciuto. Our Mistress of the Dark is keeping Secrets from us.” Tony told Gibbs as he handed him a file about Abby.

It turned out that Abby had taken out a restraining order on an ex-boyfriend. She hadn’t told Gibbs **or** Tony about her stalker. Gibbs, Tony, Ziva and Kate headed to Mawher’s place of employment to see if they could tie him to the incident in the lab.

When they pulled up they could hear music playing.

“Free decomposition odor removal included on all double homicides.” Ziva said, reading the line from the van as they passed.

“I can see why she fell for this guy. They even have the same taste in music.” Tony said as they walked towards the slightly ajar door.

_Body of a monkey and the feet of a cock._

_Dragged from her home on the killing rock._

_Black dog dying on the weather vane,_

_The Devil's in a cat and the baby's brain,_

_The End, the End of the American,_

_The End, the End of the American,_

_The End, the End of the American,_

_The End, the End of the American Witch,**_

Hey! You ruined my shot!” the guy said after they stormed in guns draw after seeing what looked like a double murder.

“I take that back, not bad.” Mawher said, before going on about what he was doing.

Gibbs told him that he was lucky he was still walking, because he’d only found out about him just that day. After getting the man’s alibi they headed back to NCIS. Gibbs told Abby that she would be staying at McGee’s.

While there she decided to play an online FPS while listening to They Fray’s “Over My Head.” Unfortunately Michael found her there while McGee ran to his car to get Abby’s toothbrush, which had fallen out in his car.

Abby ended up staying in the elevator that day. Gibbs walked in and sat with her. Abby showed her what she was holding on to.

“Ziva gave me this.” Abby said, holding up a stun gun. “Cynthia gave me the pepper spray. The knuckles are Director Shepard's.” she told him, showing him each item as she did so. He tried to make her feel better, thankfully it worked.

Thankfully they were eventually able to get the guy who was after Abby, though if Mawher hadn’t been interfering they would have caught him sooner. It turns out the case that Abby was involved with in the court system was the reason. The man whom was the defendant had hired a hit-man to take Abby out instead of trusting his lawyer.

They were all glad the case was over and that Abby was safe. Hopefully she’d learned her lesson to not keep things like that from Gibbs or at least tell Tony if not Gibbs.

TBC…

AN: Hope ya’ll liked the chappie. This is the first fic where I’ve done a solo masturbation so I hope it was up to par and not too cheesy or unbelievable.

*Not sure what it’s like in DC but here in PA paying all of that can be expensive. Car Insurance alone can be $100.00 or more to have full coverage on a newer vehicle that you make payments on. Registration is $36.00 and is thankfully only paid once a year, Inspection can range anywhere from $25.00 + for a good one and that’s not including if you live in a county that you have to have an emissions test(I thankfully don’t), Maintenance like oil changes and more can be pretty expensive even if you do it yourself plus you’ve got the four year DL renewal which is something like $26.00 not to mention all of the other hassles of car care. Trying to deal with all of that AND pay rent/mortgage, utilities etc. is not fun hence my decision to have Kelly still living with her father.

** **American Witch** by **Rob Zombie** off of his third solo album **_Educated Horses_** ; 2006. Yes, I am into the same kinds of music Abby is. That and many others; not to mention movies. I’ve had people tell me that I am like a combination between Abby, Tony, Gibbs and McGee depending on the subject. Plus I’ve been head-slapping people long before NCIS was even on.


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbetaed; all mistakes are my own.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS.

** Chapter Fourteen **

A few weeks later and another member of their team was once again being accused of murder. The difference, this time, was that the man had died whilst in their custody. Ziva had been transporting a drug dealer’s little brother to interrogation when he died in the elevator. They found out that Ziva had punched him in the jugular because he was un-cooperative and refused to enter the elevator. Unfortunately for her he had a brain aneurism, a congenital birth defect and he was a ticking time bomb. Gibbs had seen it as a possible way to go back to being a four person team with him, Tony, Kate and McGee. Unfortunately at the same time Director Sheppard was kidnapped so he’d placed Ziva on desk duty. In the end Ducky had ruled the death natural and so Ziva would be sticking around. It appeared they would have to deal with her for a while yet. They may never actually be rid of her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tony, Ziva and McGee were waiting in the car while Gibbs was on a ship meeting with an informant. Kate had stayed at NCIS because of an injury she had taken on a previous case two days previous. They were talking about what movie the operation reminded Tony of when an explosion rocked the boat. They were out of the car and onto the scene immediately. Tony called paramedics while Ziva checked for bombs. Once they were called he made Ziva wait for the paramedics while he made a few calls.

_~“Tony?”_

“Kelly, there’s been an accident. Gibbs was injured. They’ve taken him to Portsmouth.”

_~“Oh, god! Is he okay? How bad was he hurt? Is he gonna die? Is…”_

“Kelly! Calm down. No word yet on his condition. I want you to head there please. It will help if you’re near. Okay?”

_~“Y…Yes…Oh God…Dad…I’ll call when I can…I have to go.”_

“Be safe. I’ll be there soon as I can.”

_~“Thanks Tony. Love you…Don’t do anything stupid.”_

“Ti voglio bene bambina. I won’t.” Tony hung up before calling the director to inform her of the incident. His mind was still reeling at what Kelly had said. She’d never said she loved him in that tone, in jest yes but she had sounded so serious. It had him slightly unnerved.

_%%Portsmouth Emergency Trauma%%_

The door to trauma opened and Kelly ran in and right up to the woman at the desk.

“I’m here for Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. I’m his daughter, Kelly Gibbs.” Kelly said, handing over her ID and tapping her foot impatiently.

“He’s in Trauma One ma’am. There's nothing listed for him. The doctor’s have said to allow you through. Go on in.”

“Thank you.” Kelly said rushing to the doors and through them as the buzz sounded. She ran straight to where her Father was and sat near him listening to the doctor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Condition of Special Agent Jethro Gibbs.” Jenny said as she walked in, still in her evening dress and handed the nurse at the desk her ID.

“Trauma One. No condition listed yet. You can’t go in there, Director. It’s restricted… to medical personnel.” The nurse said as she tried to open the doors. She turned back around and looked at the woman.

“This isn’t about turf, you know.”

“Oh, I know that. It’s about rules. And one really big one is, non-medical people cannot enter Trauma One…unless they’re carried in.”

“Get me a gurney.”

“Ha…ha ha. That’s good. Get me a gurney! Ha ha! I like that.” the charge nurse laughed, causing another nurse nearby to laugh as well.

“I left a dinner at the White House to come here.”

“I’m impressed. Really, I am. That still doesn’t change the rules.”

“I was hoping I wouldn’t have to resort to this.” Jenny said as she opened her purse.

“Shooting your way in?”

“Don’t be silly. I don’t have my weapon.” She told the nurse as she opened her phone and searched her contacts.

“Calling the President?”

“Now that would be overkill.” She said as she put the phone up to her ear now that she had found the contact she was looking for.

_~“Hello?”_

“Condi? Jenny.”

_~“Any word yet?”_

“No. I don’t have his condition yet.”

_~“Well, why not?”_

“The head nurse won’t let me in to Trauma.”

_~“Let me speak with her.”_ Jenny handed her phone to the woman behind the desk.

 “Ethel Washington, Ma'am.”

_~“Condoleeza Rice.”_  The rest was indistinguishable to Jenny but she could guess at what was being said.

 “Yes, Ma'am. I understand.” Nurse Washington handed the phone back to her and hit the buzzer to allow the NCIS Director into the Trauma One Unit.

“Thank you, Condi.” Jenny said as she walked to and then through the doors.

The moment that Jenny was through the doors Abby came barging into the Emergency room rambling,

“McGee said that Gibbs was in a bomb blast! He tried to sound really calm, but I could hear the fear in his voice. And he should be afraid! For Gibbs to be brought to a hospital in an ambulance, it cannot be good! I had to come see for myself. And my hearse got a flat – as usual – so I got in a cab to go the airport, and then I realized that by the time I got to the terminal, and I bought a ticket, and I went through security, and then I flew to Norfolk, and I got a cab here, it would be better just to sit in the cab that I was in. So I did that. It cost a lot of… you know, it doesn’t matter what it cost because this is Gibbs we’re talking about! I can’t believe that he’s hurt! He is never hurt. Not hurt enough to go to a hospital. He has to be dying to even go see a doctor! Oh, my god! He isn’t dying, is he? I don’t know what I would do! Positive thoughts. Positive thoughts. Positive thoughts.” Abby paused as she set her purse down on the conunter and began to hastily dig through it.

“Okay, I know the rule is that you have to be family to go into Emergency, at least that’s what they said when Uncle Charlie got his leg caught in a nutria trap. But Gibbs and me, we’re tighter than blood! I know you need I.D. I have an I.D. in here. I work at NCIS. Forensics, and uh… ballistics, chemical analysis, and DNA typing. Uh… here. That’s me. I promise. I just – I had to be in court that day. But I swear, that is me!” The nurse handed her the ID back and pressed the buzzer to allow the goth into Trauma,

“You’re a really, really good person.” Abby told her, placing her hand on the Nurse’s then heading through the doors.

When they got to where Gibbs was a young redhead was already there. It looked like they were getting ready to transfer him from Trauma One to another part of the hospital.

“Kelly! What are you doing here? How’d you know what happened.”

“How else Abby? To make sure he’s okay.” Kelly hugged Abby briefly before turning and nodding at the Director. “Director Shepard.”

“Miss…I’m afraid I don’t know your last name.”

“Kelly works fine, Director.” Kelly told her, having no intention of letting the ruse fall apart now. She did so love to piss Jenny Shepard off and so did her dad. She decided she would stay with Gibbs but the Director would need to stay out of the room. The next day Kelly was standing and watching the doctors as they checked out her dad. The director was further down the hall, just out of earshot. Tony walked in at that moment.

“Coffee.” He said in lieu of a greeting.

“Coffee?” Kelly asked him.

“Sure way to wake your dad.” He told her, sharing a small look of amusement.

“Good idea. But, he’s intubated. We’ll have to use the IV.” Kelly said in amusement. It was a long standing joke between the three of them, one that Tony had mention at the office a few times.

“Uh, tell Miss Sciuto that I didn’t abandon Gibbs. Chief Neurologist would have been here today anyway.” Dr. Tolliver said as he turned to them. He was the doctor that had seen to Gibbs in Trauma and then had him moved to ICU.

“I’m sure she’ll understand.” Tony said.

“I hope so. I like women with fire.” The doctor said as he turned to walk out.

“Ah. So the dog collar and the tats had nothing to do with it?” Tony asked, curious. The doctor just gave him a look and walked out of the room.

“Tony, does he look like he’s in pain?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen your dad show pain.”

“Doctor, is he in pain? Doctor?” Kelly asked, not receiving an immediate response.

“Was this man a Marine?” Dr. Gelfand asked, turning to them.

“Yes.” Kelly told him, noticing the director was talking with Dr. Tolliver.

“Wounded in Desert Storm?”

“Yes. He has a Purple Heart.”

“That’s it! I treated him in Kuwait!”

“Gibbs never told me he was wounded in Desert Storm.”

“Me either. I saw his Purple Heart and asked him about it. That’s when he told me how he got injured.” Kelly said.

“He was in a coma when we evac’ed him to Frankfurt. Now you talk about déjà vu.”

“But is he in pain?” Kelly asked, wanting to get the doctor back on track.

“Certainly not extreme pain. He may be hurting, but the only way to know is for him to tell us.”

“Why not give him painkillers just in case?” Tony asked, slightly confused.

“I want him to wake up. An opiate would only deepen his coma.” He told them.

“I’ve just never seen my dad look like this before. I’ve seen him injured but never to this extent.”

“I have. That’s why I remembered him. That’s the expression he had in ninety-one. It’s more anguish than pain.” Kelly nodded. She knew why he was in anguish, if he was reliving the events of what put him in a coma in ’91. He hadn’t even known she was alive until after he’d come out of his coma.

Kelly had gone home when Ducky arrived after finally having finished the autopsy on Galib, that Tony had insisted on being finished. Suddenly Gibbs woke up and the room was swarmed with people. Unfortunately Gibbs couldn’t remember who Ducky was or the actual bombing that had put him into a coma. He thought he was still in the year 1991. Hopefully his memory would return quickly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tony had called Kelly and told her to get some rest before heading back to the hospital to see her dad. He told her that he had regained consciousness but had some memory problems. He wanted Kelly to have all of her faculties before seeing her dad. Kelly reluctantly agreed.

That night Jenny went to see Gibbs, still not having connected the young woman to Gibbs as his daughter, even though she had seen their pictures. Kelly was still listed as having died because Franks had been to lazy to change it. That and it afforded Kelly some protection if her mother’s murderer or someone working for him were to hack into NCIS’s database.

Gibbs ended up freaking out after she showed Gibbs a picture of Pin Pin Pula, the Abu Saiyif Terrorist. She was later informed that she would no longer be allowed to visit him at the hospital.

Kelly showed up the next day. She was sitting by his bed that morning when he awoke. He looked over at her.

“Shannon?”

“No, Dad. It’s me, Kelly. Mom died when I was eight. You remember?”

“Kelly… I…I remember. Franks lied to protect the fact that you’d survived. He never changed the reports. I thought you actually had died until…until…”

“Until you awoke from your nineteen day Coma in Bethesda.” Kelly told him, hoping to jog more of his memory. Sure enough, it worked.

“How many times did I re-marry?”

“Two.”

“What about the guy? Green eyes, brunette. I wanna say he’s Italian?” he asked Kelly. He’d been getting flashes of him and the man in rather compromising positions, mostly involving a boat or his bed.

“Tony? This him?” Kelly showed him a picture of Gibbs, Kelly and Tony.

“Yeah. Was I ever…?” he trailed off, not sure if he could trust his currently shitty memory.

“No. Not yet. I’ve been trying to get you to tell him but you refuse because of that stupid rule 12.” Kelly said. It was obviously an argument that they had had many times.

“Oh. Why do I…?”

“I really would rather not go there with you dad. Obviously you should just take my advice but you won’t.”

They sat talking about what he did and didn’t remember. He was remembering more and more about Kelly and Tony. They were laughing about the first time they had dragged Tony out onto a boat with them when Mike Franks, his old boss, walked in.

“I see your new director doesn’t know about Kelly.”

“Of course she doesn’t Mike. Only a few people know about me. Tony, Kate, Abby, McGee and you. Did you ever tell Ducky dad?” Kelly said before turning to her dad.

“No, I never got around to it. Been to busy.” The three of them were talking for most of the day. Ziva went in to remind Gibbs late that night and found Kelly asleep on the cot that they had brought in for her while Gibbs was still in a coma. Kate had wanted to be the one to go but Ziva had beaten her to the punch. He remembered her after she grabbed his hand and made him give her a head-slap.

Kelly woke up to Ziva’s soft sobbing. She called Tony and told him that they would be bringing her dad into NCIS because his memory was returning. They were at NCIS within fifteen minutes. Kelly had taken lessons from both her dad and Tony. When they got there Gibbs had decided to mess with Tony and McGee before revealing he knew who they were. Tony, Gibbs and McGee headed into MTAC to find out what was being done about Pin Pin Pula. When the bastard of a Director of NSO decided to board the Cape Fear instead of listening to them Gibbs walked out. His memory was still shoddy. He walked down into the bullpen and began looking for his gun and his badge.

“Oh, I got them here. I took em from the medics when they took ya.” Tony said, pulling Gibbs’ gun and badge from his desk drawer and handing them to him. Gibbs took them before handing his badge and gun to Tony.

“It’s your team now, Tony. Semper Fi.” He said sharing a look with the younger man. He knew Tony understood and that he would be back once his memory had returned. He needed the break.

“Semper Fi…Jethro.” Tony said, turning to watch as Abby tried not to cry, Kate standing right next to her and Ziva not far from them.

He watched as Gibbs said something to each of them before taking Kelly’s arm and leaving. He knew Gibbs would be back and that, should he need help from the man, that he knew where to find him. He was sure everyone thought that Gibbs was retiring but Tony knew he wasn’t. He would lead the team until the time Gibbs was ready to come back to work. Until then he could only hope that nothing insanely dangerous happened.

TBC…

AN: That’s it for this chapter. How’d ya’ll like that twist in events? As always, Reviews Comments, Constructive Criticism and thoughts are always welcomed. Flames and Flamers will be dealt with, most likely being fed to my dragon before being shipped off to the Bog of Eternal Stench.

_Ti voglio bene bambina_ is Italian for _I love you child_. I used it as a way for Tony to reply to Kelly without getting any flack from anyone listening in to his conversation. Plus it was a shock so he would reply in Italian because my opinion is that he would have learned either Italian first or learned Italian and English at the same time. At least when it comes to this fic.


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbetaed; all mistakes are my own.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or any publically recognizable characters.  
> AN: This is the ONLY chapter that will crossover heavily into another fandom. This chapter crosses over with Bones and aside from possible mentions in future is the only one that will contain more then just mentions. Since this isn’t a crossover in it’s entirety I felt it a bit redundant to list the fic as a crossover; especially since it wasn’t in my original outline. It just came to me whilst typing this chapter.

** Chapter Fifteen **

It had been a few months since Gibbs had ‘retired.’ Well he said he was retiring but Tony knew the truth. He had decided to take a Hiatus to get his memory back in proper order and to get his thoughts in order about the whole Cape Fear situation. Tony was currently running the team until Gibbs was ready to return. Only himself and Kelly knew that Gibbs was actually still in the states. Everyone else thought he was in Mexico and Tony had called a friend from his college days to set it up that any calls he made or received would register as coming from Mexico. Even Abby and McGee would be unable to crack the encryption. It had been a trying week when the Director called him up to her office after he’d sent McGee, Kate and Ziva home. Thankfully they didn’t have to train a probie full time.

“Director Shepard. You wanted to see me?” Tony asked as Cynthia waved him in to the director’s office.

“Yes, Special Agent DiNozzo. I have an assignment for you and only you. You up for it?” Shepard asked, an unsettling glint in her eye.

“That depends on what the assignment is, ma’am.” He said, settling into a chair.

“La Grenouille is an Arms dealer of massive proportions. I need you to go undercover and get what information you can. This would require you to date his daughter, who is studying medicine here in the states.” She told him.

“I see. I’m sorry ma’am but I am going to have to decline.”

“Why? You’re not seeing anyone at the moment Agent DiNozzo. If you agree to this assignment it could open up a lot of opportunities further down the line for you.”

“I’m sorry ma’am but I cannot take the case. I am seeing someone and it’s serious. I have no intentions of breaking it off with this person just for an op. Even if it could open up opportunities for me I am perfectly happy with where I am right now. Not to mention I can’t risk that this op wouldn’t have repercussion further down the line for me. If that is all Director, I need to be heading home myself.” Tony said, standing to leave.

“I see. You may leave Agent DiNozzo.” She said, obviously unhappy with his decision but not knowing how to force him to do the op. She’d figure something out soon.

Tony left, his gut turning at the look in Shepard’s eyes. He headed straight to his desk, the desk that had once belonged to Gibbs and would again. He grabbed his badge and gun, snagged his keys and headed out to the Supra. He’d needed a change of pace so he’d decided to bring the Supra. He jumped into the driver seat before starting the car and peeling out of the lot with a wave to the guards. He knew they were getting used to his driving in this car. He just couldn’t wait for the others to see him. Their mouths would really be wagging about him trying to emulate Gibbs then.

Twenty minutes later and he was pulling up in front of Gibbs’ house. He needed to talk to someone and Gibbs was the person he always went to, especially if it concerned a case or their esteemed director. Kelly was another person but she had a class that would run late tonight. Walking in the door he pulled his light jacket off and hung it up, slipping his work boots off and grabbing the old pair of sneakers that Kelly had nicked from him one night and he’d never bothered taking back to his apartment. He spent so much time here nowadays anyway it just made more sense to leave them here. He headed straight for the basement wher he knew Gibbs would be. Sure enough, the man was working on the boat.

“Hey, Gibbs.” He said as he grabbed a mason jar and emptied the nails out of it before blowing the sawdust from it and pouring himself some bourbon.

“Tony. Something up?”

“Yeah. Jenny pulled me into her office tonight. Said she had an offer for me.” Gibbs made a hum in his throat as he checked the smoothness of the area he was sanding.

“She wanted me to go undercover.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. You ever hear of an arms dealer called La Grenouille?” Tony asked, taking a sip from his glass. Gibbs head shot up so fast that he almost smacked it on the boat.

“You accept?”

“No. Something didn’t sit right with me about it. Not only did she want me to get close to this guys daughter to get to him but my gut was screaming as well.”

“Your gut? I was right to leave the team to you. Yeah, The Frog is an Arms Dealer. Jenny also suspects he killed her father. Only her father committed suicide and she can’t accept that. You did good to tell her no, Tony.”

“Thanks, B…uh Gibbs. Still weird to not call you boss. When you coming back?”

“Don’t know. Not for a bit yet. Still a little muddled. Seeley says it will take time.”

“Oh? And how would the illustrious Seeley Booth know about such matters?”

“He suffered something similar. Only his was from surgery. Thought I told ya bout that?”

“Surgery? Oh, yeah. Something about a brain tumor right?”

“Yeah. Scared the shit outta Kelly when she found out. Thought her favorite cousin was gonna die.” Gibbs aid, sipping from his mug of bourbon.

“How’s Seeley doing anyway? One of these days I keep expecting to run into him when we gotta work with the FBI.”

“He’s good. So’s Temperance and Christine. Nah, he works cases with the Jeffersonian. If they do get a case that comes into NCIS territory they probably won’t assign the case to me. You they might.”

“If he’s anything like you I fear for McGee’s sanity.” Tony said with a laugh.

“Actually, you two would get along pretty well. He acts more like you then he does me. Then again my father raised him, not my brother.” Gibbs said. He could imagine the shock that would cause.

“Ha! I can see McGee and Kate’s eyes now. So what should I do about Jenny?”

“Ignore her for now. If she continues to try a pursue the op let me know. I got some blackmail material you can use.”

“You two were more than partners weren’t you?”

“Yeah. She’s why I enforce Rule 12. If I knew then what I know now I never would have pursued anything. Then again we were undercover and back then it was a lot harder to fake being intimate then it is now. I never even wanted the Paris Op.” Gibbs told him. They were friends now and even when he did take the team back it would remain that way. Or so Gibbs hoped.

Tony nodded, knowing Gibbs was right in how to handle their director. They continued talking for a few more hours before Tony headed home. He did need some sleep before heading back into work and dealing with all the shit that was likely to come his way. He had no idea just how right he was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_%%Two days Later%%_

The team was in the bullpen just working on paperwork from their last case. Jenny had been keeping an extremely close eye on Tony and his team. He knew she was still pissed off about the whole refusal to help on her personal vendetta. Though she didn’t know that Tony knew about it being a personal Vendetta. He didn’t know why she was looking at him this time.

“Special Agent DiNozzo, I have assigned you and your team to work a joint case with the FBI and their Forensic Consultants.” Jenny said once she had reached their section of the bullpen. _‘Hopefully this will teach him to refuse an op in the future’_ she thought as she watched them for their reactions.

Tony raised an eyebrow, he was acting more and more like Gibbs. Kate looke like she had swallowed a particularly sour lemon, McGee looked from Tony to Shepard and back, and Ziva had a puzzled look on her face. No-one seemed Happy about that bit of news and they were waiting for Tony to say something. He just stared at the director, waiting.

“They will be here to bring you up to speed…” the elevator dinged, “now. Have a good day.” She turned and walked back towards the stars, catching sight of a woman and a man, the man who wore a ‘cocky’ belt buckle.

Special Agent Seeley Booth was not a happy camper. He was being forced to work with another unknown team at NCIS. The idiots he’d had to work with last time had almost screwed the whole damn case up. Not to mention his Uncle Jethro’s memory was still somewhat spotty and Christine was sick. As he and Bones waited in the elevator with their ‘escort’ he grumbled under his breath about assignments that sucked. He was shown off the elevator and him and Bones were lead to a grouping of desks just as a red head walked past and headed for the stairs leading up to what was obviously a restricted area. He took notice of the completely disbelieving looks that a brunette male was getting from two women and one younger male who looked to be about Sweets’ age.

“So who’s the Lead Agent I’m working with?” he asked, resigned to another grueling and annoying partnership.

Tony looked up upon hearing the question. “That’d be me. Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. You are?” Tony said, holding his hand out to the agent.

“Special Agent Seeley Booth, FBI. This is my partner Temperance Brennan from the Jeffersonian.” He said after releasing the other agent’s hand. He watched him almost choke on his coffee.

“Damn! Guess I lost **that** bet! Though now I can put a face to the name. Definitely gonna be an interesting case. Say, where’d you get that belt buckle?”

“Bet? How do you know of me? And I can’t remember where I got it.” Booth said, wary now.

“Yeah I bet your uncle that we’d never work a case with you, he bet we would. Again your Uncle. Tell me, do you know all the rules? Cause if so what’s the trick to remembering them all and keeping them straight?”

“Uncle Jethro mentioned me to you? Wow that’s a first. Sorry I can’t remember them all or keep them straight. So you ready to deal with the squints? They can be a handful.” Seeley said.

“Yeah, I think you’re the only FBI Agent other than Fornell he’d actually agree to work with. Squints? What the hell is a squint?”

“The rest of the team at the Jeffersonian. Bones is the Forensic Anthropologist there. She’s the one that figured out that we were dealing with a Marine. Hence NCIS being called in. Director wanted to make it as above board as possible.”

“I see, well if you don’t mind my team working with yours I think this could be the start of a beautiful friendship.”

“No problem. You got a Forensic Team?” Team no, Abby, yes. Not to mention three field agents, an ME and ME assistant. Let me…never mind, here they come.” Tony said as the levators dinged and three people walked out.

“Seeley meet our forensics expert Abby Sciuto, our ME Dr. Mallard and his assistant Jimmy Palmer. This is FBIS Agent Seeley Booth and his partner Temperance Brennan from the Jeffersonian.” Tony introduced.

“Nice to meet you. So we going to the Jeffersonian or are we transporting the squints here?” Seeley said.

“We will go there as I have no doubt that Abby’s lab cannot hold as many people as what the Jeffersonian can. Oh before I forget, Special Agent Kate Todd, Special Agent Timothy McGee and Mossad Liaison Officer Ziva David.” Tony said, pointing to each of the members of his team. Booth nodded to each and turn and they were off. As they left Tony caught sight of Shepard’s shocked expression. Teach her to mess with him.

Once they had all arrived at the Jeffersonian and received temporary passes into the lab area they set to work. Ducky, Palmer, and Bones conferring over the body, Abby with Angela, Hodges and the other assistants to Bones, and Tony with Booth. McGee was helping Abby and Kate and Ziva would help with any field work that needed to be done.

It didn’t take long for them to track down suspects and then find the truth as to what had happened to their murdered Marine. Bones did take a little getting used to but Tony was able to quickly adapt. Once the case had been closed, their reports written and both the team from the Jeffersonian and those at NCIS had had a celebratory drink they went home. Well Tony went to Gibbs’ house to pay up on his bet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few days later and Jenny once again tried to get Tony to do the op. She even went so far as to threaten him. Tony stormed out of her office and went straight to Gibbs. He ran into Kelly, who told him that her dad had gone to get some lumber. So he told her what the director was trying to do. Kelly wasn’t happy and once Gibbs had gotten home she had to be stopped from paying the director a visit. Gibbs went down to the basement and pulled out the blackmail that he had on Jenny.

“Here ya go Tony. It’s a copy so you can leave that with her. If she still tries we’ll let Kelly handle it however she sees fit.”

“Thank Gibbs. Hopefully she does leave me alone, but my gut’s telling me she won’t. I’ve noticed a woman fitting the frog’s daughter’s description hanging around my apartment. I don’t know why she would but something just isn’t right about the whole situation.”

“If things get out of hand you can crash here. Any time, Tony. Just watch yourself. I think Jenny’s starting to fall off of her rocker, or the stress of being the director is getting to her.” Gibbs told him, concern showing in his eyes and voice.

“I know bo…Gibbs. Thanks. I better get home. I’m still trying to sleep off that night out with Seeley and Temperance.” Tony said.

“Okay, see ya around Tony.”

“Of course, Gibbs. Bye!” Tony said as he left and went home to sleep.

The next day dawned early with an early morning call out to a crime scene. It took the three days to track down the killer and they were all bone tired by the time the case had been closed. Tony sent them home with orders to be back in office by 0900 so they could finish their reports. He was just getting ready to leave himself when the director pulled him into her office.

“Have you made your decision, Agent DiNozzo?”

“Yes I have ma’am and I am still refusing the offer.”

“You will take this assignment Agent DiNozzo. That is an order.”

“I think not Director. I suggest you take a look at that before you force me to do anything. Oh, you can keep that, it’s only a copy. I have more stashed.” Tony said, tossing the file onto her desk and leaving, going straight home and passing out in bed.

“A week later and he was being pulled into the director’s office in broad daylight. Kate was obviously concerned, McGee was curious and Ziva watched stoically as he headed for Jenny Shepard’s office.

“You wanted to see me director?” He asked, standing by the door.

“Yes, have a seat.”

“No thanks, I’ll stand.”

“Fine. Where did you get that file?”

“You are not the only one with contacts, Director Shepard.” He told her.

“I see. You should re-consider my offer Special Agent DiNozzo. Not only are you **not** seeing someone but your job will rest on your answer.”

“I am seeing someone director and if you are threatening me bear in mind that if I were to take the file I gave you to the SecNav he would be…displeased…with your actions then and now.” He told her. “Good day, Director Shepard.” He opened the door and walked out. He needed to see Gibbs immediately.

“Go home people! See you at 0900 tomorrow.” He said as he grabbed his gun, badge and keys, suddenly glad he’d brought the Supra.

He made it to the parking garage and headed straight for his Supra, knowing McGee, Kate and Ziva were watching him. He caught a glimpse of their slack jaws as he tore out of the parking garage and onto the streets like he’d suddenly turned into Gibbs. He floored it and made it to Gibbs’ house in fifteen minutes.

“Gibbs! You here!?” he called out as he rushed into the house.

“Yeah Tony, down here!” Gibbs called from the basement.

“Gibbs, she tried again, even after I gave her the file. Even went so far as to threaten me. I told her I’d give the file to SecNav if she tried anything. We might need to have Kelly start planning something.” He told Gibbs as he sat down on the bottom step.

“Nope, she’s already got something planned. She ran it by me last night. Even went so far as to call Kate and McGee to see if they could keep their mouths shut.” He told Tony.

“What’s her plan?”

“First she wants to know how you say dad in Italian. Then she plans to go to NCIS and ream Jenny out since Jenny still doesn’t know she’s my daughter. Her rant includes breaking up a very happy family and that she’s your soon-to-be step-daughter. She wanted something that wasn’t easy otherwise she was just gonna go in there and say she was your fiancé. That and she didn’t want you to get any flack for dating someone a lot younger than you are.” He told him, obviously enjoying Tony’s astonishment.

“How…ahem…how does she plan to pull that off? I mean, C’mon, Gibbs! She’s basically saying I’m dating you!” Tony exclaimed.

“Well she doesn’t plan to mention just which parent you are dating and if Jenny does ask Kelly will com up with something. I swear she’s been hanging out with you too much since she’s treating this like an undercover operation.” Gibbs laughed. Oh he would love to date the younger man but since Tony was straight and his statement just backed that up he knew it would never happen. No matter what Kelly tried to tell him.

“Oh. I think she’s been spending too much time with me too Gibbs. Can I ground her from spending time with me? ‘Cause that is just way too scary a thought. This world can’t handle a DiNozzo undercover let alone a Gibbs as good as a DiNozzo undercover.” Tony said, trying to make a joke out of the whole situation. It was a bit surreal to him. Hell, if Tony had any hint that Gibbs wouldn’t punch him he would ask the man out.

“You can try. I agree there. The world can barely handle one DiNozzo and one Gibbs let alone a Gibbs with the DiNozzo charm. How the hell’d that happen anyway?”

“Hell if I know boss…Gibbs. But it could come in handy.” Tony said, relaxing more as he actually thought about Kelly’s plan.

“It could. So how do you say dad in Italian?”

“Huh? Oh it’s Papà.” He told the older man.

“Papà?” Gibbs asked, hoping he’d gotten the intonation right.

“Yep. So where’s Kelly anyway?”

“She decided to go case your apartment. Apparently she wants photos of this girl that’s been hanging around. Should be back before dinner. You staying?”

“Yeah. Steak?”

“Yep.” And their conversation was over just like that. They talked for a bit before Tony got bored and started helping on the boat. It certainly was relaxing. Kelly found them working on the boat and talking about woodworking a few hours later. Tony decided he would just crash there since he didn’t feel like heading home. Apparently the woman was still hanging around his apartment when Kelly had left.

TBC…

AN2: Mostly just filler but there was a hint as to some future twists. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and as Always Reviews, Comments and Constructive Criticism is welcomed but all flames will be fed to my pet dragon and Flamers sent to the everglades as bait.


	17. Chapter Sixteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbetaed; All mistakes are my own.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS.

** Chapter Sixteen **

Tony had noticed the director was still watching his team a week later. He’d spent most of his time at Gibbs’ house because of that unknown woman that was still hanging around his apartment. Shepard still had that calculating look in her eye but before she could call him up to her office again Kelly walked in. She headed straight for the director and said something that Tony could barely hear.

“Can we talk in your office?” Kelly said, trying to keep her voice as low as possible so as not to disturb anyone. She had gotten sick of waiting for the director to make her next move and decided a pre-emptive strike was better than waiting.

“Of course. Follow me.” Shepard said, curious as to who this young woman was.

Kelly followed the director into her office, She smiled as she passed Cynthia and made sure the door was shut as tightly as possible. She watched as Jenny Shepard took her seat behind the desk there and stood in front of it.

“I don’t appreciate your games, ma’am. You are trying to break up a happy family. Papà means the world to me and for you to keep pulling the inane stunts you are is causing him enough stress.” Kelly said before the director could open her mouth.

“And just **who** is your Papa?” Jenny asked, messing up on the pronunciation.

“It’s Papà and his name is Tony DiNozzo.” Kelly told her. Jenny snorted before giving the young woman a condescending look.

“Young lady you are playing with fire. I don’t know who put you up to this, lying to the director of a federal agency is a very serious thing though. I suggest you just turn around and leave, before I have you brought up on charges.”

“Nice try, Madam Director, but I know that you can’t have any charges brought up against me. Remember Papà was a cop before becoming a federal agent. You are trying to force my step-father to leave his family and it’s wrong. Do **NOT** try my patience! I am **this** close to filing a lawsuit against you and I **hate** lawyers! Leave my Papà alone already! If I find out you are continuing to badger and threaten him you **will not** like the results! Do I make myself clear?” Kelly’s voice stayed relatively low even though she was shouting. It caused Jenny to shiver.

“Crystal.” Shepard said, her voice calm. This young woman had more to her then meets the eye and Jenny knew when to back down.

“Good. Have a pleasant day, Director.” Kelly said, turning and leaving the office before jogging down the stairs and right to Tony’s desk.

“Hi Papà.” Kelly said as she sat on the edge of the older man’s desk.

“Hi, Kelly. Thought you had classes?” Tony asked, keeping the mirth from his voice as he noticed their part-time probie’s wide eyed look.

“I do, but they’re not until later. I wanted to know if you were coming over tonight?”

“I don’t know, bambina. If I don’t have to work late.”

“Please? You promised to teach me how to play ‘Smoke On the Water’, ‘This Afternoon’, and ‘Hurt So Good.’ Please?” She wheedled. He had promised to teach her the lead and bass guitar riffs for the songs after all.

“I did, didn’t I? Ok, I’ll come over tonight and teach you. It may take a bit to learn them though.” He told her, smiling at her antics. She just wanted a reason to drive her dad nuts anyway.

“Yay!” She exclaimed before looking at her watch, “Oh crap! I need to go or I’m not gonna make it to the class. I’m borrowing the Bronco! Bye Papà!” She exclaimed, giving him a hug and peck on the cheek before rushing to the elevators. Thankfully she had a lead foot.

“Bye! Drive safe!” he called as she rushed off. He looked up at the gaping agents.

“What?” he growled, doing a fine imitation of Gibbs. The agents that weren’t assigned to him scattered like Mice in front of a cat. He nodded and bent his head back to the reports he was working on.

_%%Later that Night-Gibbs residence%%_

Okay let’s try this again. It’s E G A  E G B-A  E G A  G E.* Think you can remember it?” Tony asked Kelly.

“Maybe. What finger goes where again?” She asked, smirking at his frustrated look. “I can remember, Tony.”

Tony placed his fingers on the proper strings and hit the chords as she copied his movements without actually strumming the guitar in her hands.

“Okay, EGA  EGB-A  EGA GE.” Good. You’re getting the hang of it now. Let’s try again. I want you to have the intro down before we move onto the next part of the song.” He told her as he watched her place her fingers in the correct way and helped her throught it. Once she’d gotten that down he looked at the music in front of him.

“Okay, I’m going to go through the Lead Guitar myself first then we’ll start on the next, you can copy my movements if you want.” He told her, placing his fingers on the strings before going through the whole song with her watching.

He looked up just as he was finishing and flushed slightly when he noticed Gibbs watching him. Thankfully he hadn’t been doing anything other than mouthing the words, it would have been really embarrassing if Gibbs had heard him singing.

“You’re good Tony. How come you never went professional?” Gibbs said, startling Kelly out of her trance.

“Dad! Don’t scare me like that! When did you come upstairs anyway?” Kelly exclaimed.

“Just now.” He told her smirking.

“It was never a passion, Gibbs. I just learned to pass the time as a kid and it’s fun and soothing so I keep up on it.” Tony said, smiling softly. This was nice, spending time with the man he had fallen for years ago  without worrying if they’d both be called out on a case.

Gibbs nodded before taking a seat in the armchair and watching them practice. At least it wasn’t that crap Abby listened to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few weeks had passed since Kelly had gone in to confront Jenny Shepard and in that time she had realized that Tony DiNozzo had to be seeing someone. She assumed it was that girl’s mother and it was obviously serious since he was never home. She didn’t know that someone was watching her and that La Grenouille was setting her up by using his daughter, Jeanne, who was only too happy to oblige. No-one realized that the woman that was casing Tony’s apartment wasn’t in with the director but was Jeanne Benoit, the daughter of one of the biggest arms dealers around. Tony ended up going to a two week long security conference in Europe while Gibbs went down to Mexico to spend some time relaxing at Franks’ place on the beach.

Two weeks later and McGee and Abby were waiting for Tony to get home.

“Is he hear yet?! Is he hear yet?!?” Abby asked running into the bullpen eating powdered donuts.

“Abby, do you think I’d be playing this game if he was?” McGee said, continuing to play the game.

“Ah…”

“I will call you as soon as he gets here, okay? I promise.”

“But what if his flight was delayed? Or worse? What if he missed his connecting flight?” Abby rambled, still eating the powdered donuts.

“Well, then he will be here tomorrow.”

“Not good enough, McGee! A team needs a leader. He’s our glue. He’s our spine. Without him we’re like…. Phylum cnidaria.”

“Jelly fish.”

“Exactly!”

“Are you saying I’m spineless?” McGee asked, looking at her in curiosity.

“Of course not, Timmy. I’m going to check his flight.” Abby said, kicking McGee’s chair from in front of the computer and losing the game he’d been playing out.

“Abby, you’re getting powder all over my keyboard.”

“What’s your point?” Abby asked, slapping McGee’s hand away and continuing to type furiously.

“My point is, Abby, you are really, really overdoing the sugar thing again.”

“Well, I’m eating for two.” Abby said, still typing. McGee leaned forward and looked at her. She paused in her typing and looked at McGee before saying, “Relax. I was referring to the health food freak over there. Every time I go past her desk, I have this irresistible urge to shove a cheeseburger down her throat.”

“I think she’s kind of hot.”

“Oh, you think she’s hot?”

“Yeah, you know, for a probie.”

“You two do realize I can hear you, right?” Agent Lee asked seeing as she was currently assigned to their team, even though they had a full team with Kate, McGee and Ziva.

“We do now, very Special Agent Lee.” Abby said before a beeping buzz sounded from te computer. “His flight landed on time! Where is he?” Abby exclaimed just as the elevator dinged and opened. She looked up and gasped before running towards the man walking towards them, coffee in one hand and a bag in the other.

“Oh, yay! You’re home! Welcome back! I missed you! Oh….” She exclaimed, launching herself at him and latching on, hugging him.

“I missed you, too, Abby.” Tony groaned, having not expected Abby to tackle him so hard and squeezethe breath out of him like she was.

“Oh, did you have fun? Did you go to that cool bar in Düsseldorf?” she asked, not releasing her grip on Tony’s neck.

“You know, I tried. But, you know, that security conference kept us pretty busy.”

“Mmm….” Abby acknowledged him without saying anything.

“I’m having trouble breathing Abby.” Tony managed to gasp out, she had a very strong grip.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” she said, releasing him from her grasp and standing back away from him.

“McGee! Look at you! Mm-hmm! All grown up. So what did I miss the last two weeks?”

“Well, nothing I couldn’t handle, Boss.”

“Good! And to think the Director didn’t have any faith in you!”

“What do you… mean… the Director…?”

“Gather ‘round, people. I come bearing gifts.” Tony said, holding his arms up before pulling something from his bag and turning to Abby. “For the lovely lady.” He said, brandishing a beautiful hand crafted cross.

“Ah, Tony. It’s beautiful.” Abbys said, bouncing on the balls of her platform boots.

“Not to mention incredibly expensive. Euro is stronger than it used to be.” Tony said, pulling out another piece if jewelry and turning to Kate, who was standing next to Abby.

“And for you, the ever lovely Kate.” Tony said, handing her the hand crafted necklace, the beautiful gem glittering under the lights like Abby’s had. Unlike Abby’s it wasn’t a cross, it was a delicate crucifix, a small glittering Amethyst on it.

“Thanks Tony.” Kate said, smiling at his thoughtfulness.

“You’re welcome Kate.” He said before turning and handing McGee his present, placing Ziva’s on her desk and faking a present for Agent Lee.

When Agent Lee informed Tony that Ziva was late he told her that she could take care of herself but when over an hour later she still hadn’t shown up and wasn’t answering her cell Tony began to worry. He wished he could just leave and go to Gibbs’ but Gibbs was in Mexico and not just pretending to be. Tony let Abby think she was the only one who knew how to get ahold of Gibbs. He knew how but he didn’t want to disturb Gibbs but he really needed his advice and help. Especially after their esteemed director ordered them not to investigate the charges and that he was to tell her if Ziva tried to contact him or anyone on his team he was to tell her and Agent Sacks about it.

McGee and Lee were watching the FBI Agents go through their case files as they had been doing so for the last two days when Lee said that she felt Ziva was a spy. McGee yelled at her and she fired back. Tony came up to them and told Lee to shut up and watch the FBI agents before having McGee follow him. They were planning what they woud do next down in autopsy when Abby told them that Ziva had called her the night before. Tony called Ziva and talked with her before she handed him her cell and he was talking with Gibbs.

He headed to Gibbs house and had Ziva draw her weapon as he walked down the stairs into the basement. They continued to talk about why Ziva was framed when Tony held up a cell phone in front of Gibbs.

“I thought you might be needing this.” Tony said, Gibbs grabbed his coffee cup from him, instead. “Uh… I meant the NCIS cell phone. That’s my coffee, Boss.” Tony said, forgetting to use Gibbs once again.

“Do I still look like your boss?” Gibbs asked, giving Tony a look. It seemed they were still going with the ruse that Gibbs has been in Mexico the whole time and not in the states.

“Uh… well, maybe if you shaved. And a haircut wouldn’t hurt. The smile thing’s definitely throwing me off, too.” Tony joked, he hadn’t realized that Gibbs’ hair could grow that fast.

“It’s good… it’s good to see you again, McGee.” Gibbs decided to joke back.

“DiNozzo.” Tony said, the smile that was on his face dimming a little to keep Ziva from asking questions.

“What’d I say?” he asked, even though he knew what he’d said.

“You called him McGee.” Ziva told him matter-of-factly.

“Oh, that’s probably because if I left him in charge, you wouldn’t be on the F.B.I.’s ten most wanted list right now.” Gibbs joked, the joke going right over Ziva’s head but Tony got it.

“Hm… but you do remember?” Tony asked, keeping the ruse going.

“That I left you in charge? Yeah, I remember I left you in charge, DiNozzo. What I forgot is your taste in coffee. It stinks!” Gibbs said, thrusting the coffee cup back into Tony’s hands. It was a lie, Tony did have good taste in coffee he just like too much sugar.

“I like sugar. It’s my weakness. What’s our plan?”

“Things are bad enough for NCIS as it is, Tony. You can’t…” Ziva began, pacing away from the two men, before being interrupted by Tony.

“I don’t remember asking your opinion, Officer David!”

“You see? He’s been completely insufferable since you left.” She said, walking back to the two men in Gibbs’ basement.

“Is that true, Tony?” Gibbs asked, he hadn’t known that Tony had been acting that insufferable, as Ziva said.

“When I need to be.” Tony told him.

“Yeah? Hm… maybe you were the right man for the job. Our plan is to find this guy before he gets out of the country.” Gibbs said, giving Tony a compliment on his skill as a team leader, knowing he was more than qualified for the job.

Tony went back to NCIS while Gibbs and Ziva went to a safe house that she had set up for Ari when he infiltrated NCIS three years previous. Unfortunately the killer that was setting Ziva up was watching them and then tried to blow them up. Thankfully Ziva was able to get them out. Tony was arguing with Ducky about what to do next and that Gibbs looked like he’d gone native. Ducky tried to interrupt but Tony kept rambling. The fact that Gibbs could be dead was really messing with him.

“Gibbs is one of the most capable ag…” Ducky began before being interrupted by Tony.

“Was, Ducky! You didn’t see him. I mean, he didn’t even look like Gibbs. I think he went native down there.” Tony ranted.

“Uh, Tony?”

“His hair is all long and crazy looking. And he’s got this scraggly beard. He looks like a pirate or something. His eyes are all bloodshot, probably from drinking hooch from morning to night with Franks.” Tony was just ranting now, even though he didn’t actually think Gibbs looked bad with long hair, the beard was a little unnerving though.

“They call it a “redeye” for a reason…” Gibbs said, standing right behind Tony. He slapped Tony on the arm lightly, “the flight I was on all night to get here.”

“Oh, geez! You’re all right!” Tony said, hugging him quickly in relief. “Good. All right. Thank god.” Tony said, having pulled away from Gibbs even though he would have loved to keep hugging him and more.

“Yeah, thank Ziva. Already been blown up twice, Tony. Don’t think I got a third one in me.” Gibbs said before brandishing a set of keys at Tony. “Space seventy-three. Presents in the back for Autopsy and Abby. Don’t be seen. Hey, Duck!” Gibbs said before greeting Ducky as Tony left.

Gibbs went up and spoke with Shepard before heading down to Abby’s lab.

Tony and Gibbs stood in front of the large TV in the lab while McGee talked.

“We matched the dead guy’s prints. Balash Sassanid. Arrested five years ago for reckless driving. An illegal from Iran. Student visa expired last year, Boss.” McGee said. While McGee was talking Tony and Gibbs took a drink for their respective coffee cups before switching their cups as someone had mixed them up.

“Good job, McGee.” Tony and Gibbs said in unison.

Once they had the information they needed Tony had McGee check on the bolo, which he’d forgotten about completely. Once they had a possible location they headed out, Gibbs calling Ziva who decided to head there alone. Tony had tried to tell him that that is what she would do. Gibbs reminded Tony to get McGee and meet him there. Ziva had already arrived and gotten a full confession from the Iranian woman that had helped the supposedly dead former mossad officer set Ziva up.

Tony, McGee, Kate and Gibbs showed up at the hotel and Ziva told them that she was now also an investigator and not just a killer. She handed the recording to Tony who smiled. When theyu got back to NCIS they talked with the director while Gibbs waited in the bullpen. When they left Gibbs had left and Tony was a little upset that he’d left without even saying goodbye to him at least. When he got home though it was to see a package on his front stoop simply addressed to him along with a letter, Gibbs’ handwriting on both. When he opened it he laughed, it was a typical Gibbs move and present; coffee and some woodworking magazines as well as some more sheet music books for his guitar. There was even a bottle of bourbon. The letter was straight and to the point,

_Tony,_

_Yeah, yeah, I left and didn’t tell ya but I didn’t want to deal with Jenny. Kelly says Hi and that she’ll see you in two days when she gets home. I’ll probably be home in another week or two. Mike’s beginning to drive me a little crazy and you were right, I am definitely not ready for “retirement” yet. Be prepared to have your old desk back. Enjoy the books and magazines; you can help with the boat without me having to teach ya everything. Don’t drink all the bourbon._

_Gibbs._

Tony laughed. Typical Gibbs. He was looking forward to Gibbs’ return and being able to relax a bit. It was no wonder Gibbs built boats in his basement; being team leader was stressful as all hell.

TBC…

AN: And another chapter down. There is more foreshadowing and hints at another twist in this chapter. Hope ya’ll enjoyed it and as always reviews, comments and Constructive Criticism is welcomed. Flames will be used to build me a big bonfire and flamers will be used as target practice.

*Yes, those **are** the actual lead guitar chords for the intro of **Smoke on the Water** by **Deep Purple**. Yes, they **are** a pain in the ass for someone with small hands. Bass is much easier to play on small hand but is harder to find the chords for and I can admit I am learning the Lead Guitar and Keyboards not bass or rhythm guitar. Sometime drums too. Electronic Drum Kits are **soooo** much fun! You can do a **LOT** more on them than your standard drum kit. Easier to load, unload, set up, tear down re-load and then unload again too.


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbetaed; All mistakes are my own.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS.

** Chapter Seventeen **

A week later and Gibbs was back stateside. Kelly had gotten back five days before that and Tony had stayed with her at Gibbs’ house after someone had attempted to break into the house while Kelly was home alone. Tony had called Gibbs to assure him that he would stay with Kelly so that Gibbs didn’t have to come home early. Thankfully after Kelly had gone in to talk to the director Jenny had pretty much dropped the Grenouille Op. It had done wonders for Tony’s relationship with the director. He’d noticed that the unknown woman was stil hanging round his apartment and had questioned the director about it. She flat out admitted that she’d thought about casing his apartment building herself but had decided against it and that her and Tony were the only two people that knew about the Grenouille Operation she’d asked him to do. It had made Tony extremely wary but he had been able to tell that Shepard wasn’t lying. So he told Gibbs and Kelly as soon as he could and they both told him to spend some night a week away from his apartment just in case.

His working relationship with the director had taken a turn for the better, especially after an old flame of the director’s decided to make an attempt on her life. He’d realized that while Jenny Shepard was a pain in the ass she was also still a human being that did get scared. That was the real turning point in how they dealt with each other. He knew she was still miffed about his refusing the Grenouille Op but she was putting that anger aside like a proper director should. It still didn’t make Tony any more fond of her but at least they could get along more amicably then before.

It was a month later when Gibbs returned to Active duty as an NCIS Field Agent. It was a relief for Tony because trying to keep the team from going over the deep end and being the team leader was beginning to wear on him. Director Shepard had called him up to her office so he went.

“Tony, how would you rate your recent performance as team leader?” Jenny asked as she walked around to stand behind her desk.

“I would say a solid B…minus. I’m being fired aren’t I?” Tony said, concerned. Especially when Shepard looked at him oddly.

“In a manner of speaking, yes.” Jenny told him.

“If this has to do with Gibbs coming back I have no problems working for him.” Tony said, arms crossed in front of him.

“These orders are for you.” Jenny said, handing a file to Tony.

“NCIS Rota, Spain.” Tony said, shocked. He looked at the director in surprise.

“Your own team. Congratulations.” Jenny said, smiling at Tony. He was a good team leader in her opinion.

“Wow. Uh, I don’t know what to say.” Tony said, it was the truth after all.

“Your performance these last four months has been exemplary. You’ve earned it.” Jenny said, sitting down behind her chair.

“What about my family? I don’t want to uproot them.” Tony said, walking to stand in front of the director. He didn’t want her to get any ideas of trying to get him to take the La Grenouille mission so he stuck with the story of him having a family.

“So you’re passing on a promotion that any other agent in this building would kill for all because you’re worried about uprooting your family? I don’t think so.”

“Okay.” Tony said, taking the seat right in front of the director. “I’m worried about Jethro.”

“Jethro’s fine.” Jenny said.

“Then how do you explain that thing on his upper lip? Looks like Wilford Bremley Jr.” Tony said.

“So you’re turning down a promotion because of a mustache?” Jenny asked, smiling in mirth thinking it was a joke.

“His memory’s still screwed up. He called Ziva Paula yesterday. I just want to make sure he’s 100% before I leave.” Tony told her.

“I see. And how long might that process take?”

“I don’t know; maybe a few months.”

“How does seventy-two hours sound?”

“Very fast.”

“It wasn’t a question. I need an answer by the end of the week. Tony, if you pass this up another opportunity like this might not come up for years.” Jenny told him, becoming very serious.

“Can we keep this like, my family’s status? Just between the two of us?” Tony asked, having moved to stand by the door.

“If you wish.” Jenny told him.

“Thank You.” He said opening the door and leaving.

Their case took three days to solve. A missing Navy lieutenant that they had found out was actually profiling men to find a husband. She was a female McGee. Once they had closed the case Tony stood outside the director’s office before knocking.

“Come in Tony.” She called.

Tony opened the door and loked around it, “How’d you know it was me?” he asked as he peered at her.

“Because your deadline passed hours ago.” Jenny said.

Tony walked in and closed the door before coming to a stop in front of Shepard’s desk.

“I’ve made my decision.”

“And I respect it. Sometimes I even wish I’d made the same one myself.”

“But I’m passing on the promotion, Jenny.” Tony told her. He wasn’t ready to leave Gibbs.

“I know.” She told him.

“Well… Ho…How can you know? I just made up my mind behind the door.” Tony said, a little confused.

“To get here, in this office, especially as a woman my career has been on the fast track my entire life. And between you and me, sometimes I wish I’d taken it a little slower.” She told him.

“So you’re not disappointed?” Tony asked.

“No. Actually I’m feeling a bit proud at the moment.” She told him. It was the truth, Tony obviously understood that he needed to be ready and he felt he wasn’t. It was a sign of a good agent, one that would be able to make it very far.

“Hmm.” Tony said, standing just that little bit taller.

“Go home and get some sleep.” She told him, watching as he headed towards the door.

“Good night, Jenny.” Tony said right before opening the door and leaving. He needed to get to Gibbs’ house to pick Kelly up for their evening out. They were planning on seeing a late night movie before having dinner, something that Tony had skipped.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With Gibbs back at work Tony could rest easy. Yeah, he’d told Shepard that he was worried about Gibbs because of his mustache but in all honesty Gibbs had done that to screw with everyone, including Tony. Gibbs had deliberately kept the mustache just to screw with everyone. Tony knew it too, because he’d been there when Gibbs had actually shaved. He’d been teaching Kelly more riffs on the lead guitar when Gibbs had come down the stairs with the mustache. Kelly’s exclamation had shocked both Tony and Gibbs.

“Dad! What’s with the pornstache? You look like some big porn mogul. You should shave it.” Kelly had said. Tony had looked at Gibbs then Kelly then back to Gibbs with wide eyes before he started to laugh softly. Gibbs had even joined in once Tony had reached the falling down with laughter stage of his mirth.

When Gibbs finally shaved the “pornstache” as Tony called it, all thanks to Kelly, everyone was relieved. Even Tony, because the furry upper lip was weird not to mention Gibbs seemed mellower with it. Admittedly Tony had seen him mellow at home so it wasn’t as big of a deal for him as he made it out to be.

When Halloween rolled around Tony just knew strange things would happen. Ever since he’d become a cop they always had. Thankfully only bad guys were killed in their case. Tony ended up crashing at Gibbs’ house after being accosted by the still unknown woman that had been hanging around his apartment building. He used the excuse that he was just picking up some things before going to his lover’s place. He figured maybe if he told her that she would leave him alone. No such luck, unfortunately.

It would be another few weeks and they would meet Colonel Hollis Mann, who was all over Gibbs like a bitch in heat. Gibbs had managed to put her off though, which was a good thing because Tony could not see Kelly dealing with that…woman. She’d probably kill her. If Tony didn’t first that is. Unfortunately the colonel couldn’t seem to take a hint and decided to show up unexpectedly at Gibbs’ house while Tony was there. He was teaching Kelly some more riffs and talking with Gibbs when Mann showed up. Kelly stood up and told her to get the hell out before she called the police and charged her with breaking and entering into a federal agent’s home. Apparently Ziva had told Mann where Gibbs lived, not realizing that Gibbs had been rebuffing Mann’s advances. He had no intention of dating any more red heads, let alone one that wasn’t a red head. Two marriages, failed marriages, had shown him that he couldn’t replace Shannon, which is what he’d been doing. That and, unbeknownst to Tony, Gibbs had his eyes set on Tony, even though Gibbs himself was being stubborn. It was a constant point of contention between Kelly and her dad. Tony didn’t know that though.

That same week Tony was once again accosted, this time more politely, by the unknown woman. Tony had managed to learn her name though; Jeanne Benoit. It was at that point Tony told her flat out that he was in a committed relationship and to please leave him alone. Hopefully she would. Tony had recognized the name immediately as that belonging to Renee Benoit aka La Grenouille’s daughter. He told Gibbs the first moment he got a chance. Tony was told to keep a recorder on him and every time she accosted him to record the conversations, just in case. Tony did have a knack for getting into trouble. It wasn’t like Tony went looking for trouble, trouble always just found him.

Tony was sitting at home when he got an unexpected guest. Jeanne Benoit stood at his door, obviously wanting to be invited in. Tony was smarter than that and immediately went to his bedroom and called Kelly, who was doing some report for University with her dad’s help. He did know more about history as he had lived it being in the Corp and all.

“Kelly, Jeanne Benoit is standing outside of my door in a trench coat. It’s very suspicious.” Tony told her, hearing her relay the information to Gibbs as well.

 _~“Tony, I’m gonna come over and scare her off. Hopefully she’ll take the hint this time. Just open the door when I get there.”_ She told him, gathering her keys and coat before heading out the door.

“How will I know it’s you?”

 _~“Oh you’ll know it’s me. You better pack a bag too. That way she can’t pull this same stunt again. See you soon.”_ Kelly sid, before taking a page out of her dad’s book and hanging up before Tony could reply.

Tony looked at his phone before grabbing a duffel from his closet and packing some clothes and hygiene products. Apparently Kelly planned on holding him hostage. He didn’t know that she planned on having him bring the supra and that Gibbs was actually driving her over there.

Twenty minutes later there was a knock on his door. He’d recognize that knock anywhere; it was the old ‘Shave and a haircut…two bits’ tune. It didn’t hurt that Kelly also called through the door right after.

“Papà! You home?! Papà!”

Tony went over to the door and opened it. “Kelly, what…oh shit! Sorry ‘bout that bambina. It’s been completely ass backwards and flat out hauling ass at work that I completely forgot I was supposed to pick you up from School. Forgive me?” Tony said, hamming it up for Jeanne, who was stood off to the side.

“It’s okay Papà. I know what it can be like, we’ve been dealing with it for a while haven’t we? Come On. Supper should be done soon and I am starving.” Kelly said, really putting on the act for Jeanne.

“Yes we have, bambina. Oh, Ms. Benoit! What are you doing here?” Tony said, before acting surprised as if he’d just now noticed the woman was there.

“I was hoping we could talk. Get to know each other better, Tony.” Jeanne purred. It sickened Tony. “How ‘bout you send the little girl home?” she went on, giving a heated look at Kelly, that look promised all kinds of pain.

“Excuse me? I think you’d better leave ma’am.” Tony said.

“Why? Just send this…girl on her way home and I can show you what a real woman is like.” Jeanne said, trying for a sultry look and just repulsing and pissing Tony off instead.

“Look, Ms. Benoit…”

“You can call me Jeanne, Tony.”

“Ms. Benoit, this is my step-daughter and I’d kindly thank you **not** to talk ill of her in front of me. Now, I am leaving to go be with my family so if you don’t mind. Have a good day, Miss. I’m sure you can see your way out of the building. Or do I need to call the super?” Tony asked, venom lacing his words.

“No, I can see myself out.” She said, turning on her heels and leaving.

Tony sighed once she was out of earshot and sight. “Thank God she’s gone. Let me grab the keys to the Supra and we’ll be on our way.” Tony told Kelly, grabbing his keys and locking the door behind him.

They both noticed Jeanne watching them from a darkened corner. Tony smirked and tossed his duffle in the back seat of the Supra before climbing behind the wheel and tearing out of the apartment building’s lot and heading towards Gibbs’. He saw Jeanne hop into a car and start to tail them but Tony’s superior driving had them losing the tail rather quickly. Kelly called her dad and had him open the garage doors so that Tony could pull directly in to the garage, just in case someone spotted Tony’s bright Day-Glo Orange Supra and asked questions or Jeanne happened to pass through the neighborhood. It wouldn’t do for Jenny Shepard to get wind of Tony’s cars being spotted at their house all the time. She might start suspecting things that, while Kelly wished they were true, were not.

It would be another few weeks before either of them saw Jeanne again, thankfully. But not one of the three thought anything of what the coming weeks and months would bring.

TBC…

AN: Another chapter done. Hope ya’ll like it and all comments, reviews, and constructive criticism are appreciated. All flames will be used to start a bonfire to melt the snow and flamers sent to the deepest pits of Hades possible. The shave and a haircut two bits is a classic tune, one that I do actually use when I knock and always is fun. The best movie reference for it is “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” in my opinion. Great movie and an awesome little ditty, especially for someone as musically inclined as I am.


	19. Chapter Eighteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbetaed: All mistakes are my own.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS.

** Chapter Eighteen **

Since that night Jeanne had shown up at his apartment building in some very suspicious clothing Tony had taken to Spending more and more time at the Gibbs residence. Oddly enough he had more belongings there then he did at his own apartment and he wasn’t even dating the man. His guitars, keyboards, sheet music and song books, DVD’S, clothes, and even a drum kit in the garage were all there instead of his own apartment. It was kind of surreal to him, having all of that at Gibbs’ house and not his own apartment. If he wasn’t careful he’d end up spilling his feelings to his boss, something he knew would get him either beat up or fired, if not both.

Jeanne had ‘accidentally’ run into him several times, either at restaurants or near his apartment building. She’d even been his attending ER doctor once when he’d gotten a concussion, he’d immediately signed out AMA. It was just too weird to be a coincidence, never mind the fact that he didn’t believe in coincidences.

Of course their easy caseload just had to start getting complicated. A Marine was killed during a gathering of all of the important players in the whole Alphabet soup not to mention Senators and Politicians. It lead them to a human slave trafficker who was trafficking underage girls from China to use as sex slaves for wealthy people like politicians or their aides. During that time Tony had had to get a secondary cell phone, a burn phone, because Jeanne kept calling his personal cell phone. So he’d had to get a burn phone as his personal one and get the other one turned off. Hopefully that would get her to leave him the hell alone. He was getting run down from all of the dodging of that obsessed psychopath and even Ziva was noticing it. The only time he actually got rest was when he went straight to Gibbs’ place from NCIS but he couldn’t keep imposing on his boss either, Hopefully something would give soon and it wouldn’t be him.

Gibbs had noticed it long before Ziva did and was worried. He had decided that if the shit really hit the fan Tony would move in with him, to hell with NCIS’s rules and regulations and possibly his own Rule 12. Not to mention what the director would say, which she would inevitably say something. Tony was becoming too run down and that was not good, especially with Tony’s lungs in the condition they were in since the plague. Tony was a field agent and great at undercover work but that could suffer if Tony were to get run down any more than what he already was. Gibbs could only hope that something would happen before his agent’s life was put in even more danger.

Of course something would happen. McGee’s sister was a suspect in the murder of a sailor; Seaman Jeff Petty. McGee had emailed in sick; Laryngitis. They were called out to the scene, which was at he quad on Waverly Campus. They had collected the evience, including ten goldfish that were dead. Gibbs was down getting the results from Ducky with Ziva. They had gotten the cause of death for both the Sailor and the goldfish.

“We didn’t find any knife. All we bagged was trash.” Ziva said to Gibbs once Ducky had given them the cause of death on Seaman Petty.

“Tell DiNozzo to keep looking.”

“Well, Tony went home.”

“He went home?”

“He wasn’t feeling well. Thought McGee might have gotten him sick.

“So he went…Home?” Gibbs said, confused. Tony wouldn’t have gone home even if he was sick. Plus he was avoiding his apartment as much as possible. Gibbs knew something was up.

“Well actually…the director told him he could go.” Ziva told him. Gibbs knew she was up to something again.

Gibbs headed out of Autopsy and called Tony.

“DiNozzo.” Tony answered, his voice showing his tiredness.

“You went home? Why’d Jenny send you home?”

“She’s been talking with Ziva and Kate. They said I looked too un down so she sent me home. I decided to just get some extra sleep here. That is I’m actually not home, I’m at your place instead. I was gonna go to my place till I noticed a light on and Benoit’s car in the lot. That a problem Gibbs?”

“Hell, Tony. If you were that run down I’d have let ya go home. Next time let me know first, got me?”

“Yeah. I’m gonna lay back down Gibbs. I’m getting a migraine.”

“Take your meds Tony. Be back at work as soon as you can.” Gibbs told him.

“Got it Boss.” Tony said, hanging up. He had already taken his meds. He’d suffered too many concussions and every once in a while he got a migraine because of it. It wasn’t enough to hinder his performance as an NCIS Field Agent thankfully.

Gibbs headed the director’s office before searching all over the building for Shepard. He found her in Abby’s lab where he went to berate her about sending one of his Agent’s home but Abby beat him to it. She did her own impersonation of him and the director before making a smart ass comment. He managed to keep his disgust at the thought of him and Jenny hidden rather well. Abby was working on the cell phone that was found on their Seaman’s body.

“Have you got the call log off the cell phone we found on Seaman Petty?” Gibbs asked, walking around the table to stand next to Abby.

“There was damage on the dc run to the SIM chip, probably from the fall.” Abby said, before turning the phone on. “Okay. Wow! 15 missed text messages. Someone’s really trying to get a hold of…” Abby trailed off as the cell began ringing. “Oh no what do I do? Should I answer it?” Abby said, looking at Gibbs.

“Put it on speaker.”

“Hello?” Abby said after hitting the speaker button, effectively answering the call.

“Finally! Where the hell are you?”

“McGee?” Gibbs questioned.

“Boss?! Why do you have my sister's cell phone?” McGee’s confusion was obvious.

“I got a better question for you. What is your sister's cell phone doing on my dead body?” Gibbs asked, something was obviously hinky.

Gibbs had McGee come in and wait in the elevator. Tony had already arrived along with Kate and Ziva. The meds had done their work and kicked his migraine. They put a BOLO out for Sara McGee, citing a Bench Warrant for Grand Theft Auto. They got a hit, Sara was at the Library on campus and Tony and Kate went to pick her up. They brought her in and almost as soon as they did Abby had found something down in the evidence garage. The murder weapon stuffed between the back seat and the backrest. All of the evidence was pointing to Sara. After following the evidence Abby found out that Sara had been drugged with GHB. They found the woman who had drugged her, it was a cheerleader named Maddison who was friends with the cheerleader that their Seaman was dating. It turns out the cheerleader had drugged Sara and set her up to be raped. Her co-conspirator, a campus security guard was the one that was supposed to rape her but Seaman Petty saw Sara struggling with the campus security guy and had attempted to break it up. The guard killed him and fled, ultimately ending up framing Sara in the process.

Once the case had been closed and their reports written Tony went to Gibbs’ house and waited for Kelly to get finished with her evening classes. He’d promised to teach her how to play a new song on the Lead Guitar. Plus it was a weekend and they weren’t on call for once. Kelly had decided to make plans for the three of them; which included dragging Gibbs out of the basement for some pop culture learning. Gibbs was already grumbling about it but it wasn’t as much as what most would have thought.

While Tony waited for the two Gibbs’ to get home he went about making dinner. He knew they both liked his Lasagna Bolognese; which was actually his grandmother’s recipe. He’d made it before and it was one of the few meals that he could cook. He wasn’t a good cook like his friend Speed down in Miami. Which reminded him he needed to check on Speed’s recovery; he’d been damned lucky that the bullet hadn’t hit a few inches lower and was still recovering. This wasn’t the first time his childhood friend had been shot and almost killed. He wasn’t sure if his job or Speed’s job was more dangerous. While he cooked he’d put on some music and so hadn’t noticed Gibbs come in. The older man had stayed later at the office to tie up some loose ends and confront the director about something or another.

“Smells good. Lasagna Bolognese?” Gibbs asked, startling Tony into spinning around with a knife in his hand, ready to be used against an intruder,

“Damnit Gibbs! You’re lucky I already secured my gun otherwise you’d probably have gotten shot!” he exclaimed, much to the amusement of his boss. “Yeah, Lasagna Bolognese. It was that or Chicken Cacciatore.” Tony told him, turning back around to finish chopping something.*

Shortly before Tony was ready to pull dinner out Kelly showed up. Her class had run late so she was late getting home. Once they had eaten dinner and stowed the left overs Tony made his phone call before teaching Kelly some more chords. The three of them then worked on the boat for a bit before Tony called it a night and went to bed. Kelly and Gibbs following not long after. It would be a long relaxing weekend for the three of them Kelly had no classes and her dad and Tony weren’t on call.

TBC…

AN: Hope ya’ll liked this chapter. Yes, the Speed I mentioned IS in fact Timothy Speedle from CSI: Miami. I happened to be watching the episode where Eric thinks he’s been seeing Speed and at the very end I noticed that Speed was born in 1973 and Died in 2003. Tony was born in ’72 and so I made the connection. Yes can you tell I do NOT like the fact the Speed’s dead? As Always reviews, comments and constructive criticism is welcomed. Flames will be sent to the deepest pits of hell and Flamers to the La Brea Tar Pits.

*I shortened the chicken recipe name. The name on food network is Chicken with Cacciatore Sauce but that’s too much of a mouthful. No I’ve never made either of the dishes, just simple Lasagna with plenty of meat, sauce, and plenty of Ricotta, Mozzarella, New York Sharp Cheddar and Parmesan cheeses. I guess you could say it’s the simple way.


	20. Chapter Nineteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbetaed; all mistakes are my own. Feel free to point out any glaring errors.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS.

** Chapter Nineteen **

Their relaxing weekend had done wonders for Tony. He didn’t feel as run down as he had been feeling lately. Thankfully not a moment too soon as they got a case that ended up coinciding with an FBI investigation. That and the director had asked to speak with him and Gibbs the moment they got into the office.

“Jethro, Tony. Have a seat.” Jenny said of the two men standing in front of her desk. She watched them share a look before Tony sat and Gibbs leaned against the desk.

“Since I am sure you are unaware of what has been happening, Jethro I decided to fill you in. Shortly after your accident I asked Tony to be part of an extensive mission. He refused and I understand now why he did so. But now I need someone to go undercover at an airport. La Grenouille’s associates will be landing tomorrow at an airport and I’d like to have a look at who they are and where they are going. I would like Agent DiNozzo to go in undercover at the airport.” Jenny stopped and let them assimilate that information.

“Why are you bringing this up to me now, Jen? Any other time you just order my team around.” Gibbs asked, unconvinced about her motives.

“As you’ve pointed out many times Jethro, they are not my team.” She watched as Gibbs and Tony communicated silently, something that even she hadn’t been able to do efficiently with the older man.

“Ok, director. As long as it doesn’t interfere and this is the only thing that I do pertaining to the La Grenouille Op.” Tony said, looking at her with wariness.

“Thank you, Tony. Jethro. I’ll email you both the details.” She said, watching as they left her office.

_%%Next Day%%_

Tony wasn’t at work and Gibbs knew why. He hadn’t thought it would take this long to place a few GPS trackers on some luggage and haul ass out of there.

“Inbound G-Five from Ibiza, Spain. Tango-Eight, I want every bag coming off that plane tagged with a GPS marker. Eagle-Six, remain in over-watch. Tango-Eight is on his own, unless I clear you for back up.” Director Jenny Shepard said into her headset as she watched the feeds from MTAC.

“Solid copy. Eagle Six, remaining in over-watch position.” She head from the pilot of Eagle Six.

“Bring up Tango-Eight’s feed on the big screen.” She said to one of the techs in MTAC.     

“Hey, there! How you all doing? Toss them down, bro’!” Tony said before grunting when the first bag was tossed to him. “Oooh! Louis Vitton.” He said as he caught the second bag.      

“Y’all aren’t too friendly, are you?” he said when he didn’t get a response before jogging over to the waiting limosine and placing the bags in the truck, managing to stick two trackers discreetly.  

“Tango-Eight, La Grenouille’s people are about to deplane.” Jenny told Tony as Eagle six informed her of the people disembarking the plane.

Tony looked up and watched the woman currently leaving the plane before being startled out of his vigilance by a hand on his shoulder and someone clearing their throat.

“Miss Burrow is for me, dear boy.  There’s more luggage.” The man told him.   

“Yes, Sir.” Tony said, jogging back to the plane to get the rest of the luggage and get the trackers on it. He watched as the man greeted two more people.

“Good flight?” he heard the man ask.  

“Very nice, Kort. Very nice.” The woman, Miss Burrow, said to Kort.

“Bellison, where’s he been keeping you?” Kort asked of the an that had just left the plane.

“The African market; Cape Town, mostly. Not bad.” Bellison replied to Kort’s question.

“Good.” Kort told him.

SHEPARD: “I need to see the passengers.” Tony heard in his ear. He managed to get a look at all three passenger’s faces allowing for the crew in MTAC to get pictures.

“Isolate and freeze frame.” He heard Shepard say, he knew they’d gotten the pictures then.

“How long have you been here?” Kort asked Tony, standing in front of him. Tony hoped his cover hadn’t been blown already.    

“Well, long enough to put your luggage in the trunk.” He told the man, Kort.    

“How long have you been working the line? I haven’t seen you before?”

“Oh, about five months, I’d say, you know. Part time, weekends, nights… that sort of thing.” Tony said, watching as Kort pulled out and brandished a wad of bills at him.

“Can you keep your eyes off her next time?” Kort said, brandishing the money at Tony.  

“Probably not.” Tony answered, a slight smirk on his lips.

“An honest man.” Kort said, before tucking the money into the jacket pocket on Tony’s flight suit.    

“Thank you, Sir!” Tony said to the man.

“Eagle-Six, confirm four GPS markers.” Tony heard the director in his ear piece.

“Eagle-Six, four GPS markers confirmed.  Signals are long and strong.” The pilot confirmed.

“Bravo Zulu, Tango Eight.” Tony heard Jenny say. Tony started to jog off the tarmac even while mumbling to himself.     “Two hours. Gibbs is going to murder me.”

Tony headed to Gibbs place to change before going into the office. When he got there FBI Agent Sacks was in his chair. It seems their smoked man was a serial killer the FBI had been after. Eventually they broke the whole thing wide open when Abby, with help from Marty, learned that the victim’s in their serial killer’s backyard were only five or six months old not years old. It turned out that the wife was the serial killer not her husband. Tony was just glad to see the backside of Sacks leaving the building, He still very much hated the man.

Not long after they closed the FBI’s case in less time than they could have Shepard authorized a Sexual Harassment class which pissed all of them off. Gibbs felt it pointless and Tony was actually glad to get a call out to a crime scene. A woman working to build an automated Humvee was killed, everything was pointing to suicide. Thankfully they were able to prove it was murder and they caught the man that had input the code into OTTO. He had been planning on killing another member f the team that was working on OTTO but had accidently killed the Naval officer.

While they were working that case Jenny had tried to con Tony into going undercover again but he refused with Gibbs to back him up. He also had a doctor’s appointment, which he knew was worrisome for Ziva and Kate. Dr. Pitt was his pulmonologist because of his bout with the plague but this was for something else. Unfortunately it was at the same hospital that Jeanne Benoit worked at. Thankfully it wasn’t her that he was there to see. He had his blood drawn and the stool sample they had taken was checked as well as urine and several scans. He knew she’d seen him walk in but he had managed to ignore her. The doctor he was visiting had a gag gift that she gave out to all of her patients, since she was a very humourous person. The tests were mainly to see how his body was coping after the plague, he had them every so often to make sure the plague didn’t decide it wanted to crop up for another round of damaging effects.

The doctor, Dr. Sheila Croslei, gave him a hospital band as a gag gift. It was apparently something she gave all of her patients no matter their age. He knew Kate and Ziva had seen it he just didn’t know they would bring it up to Gibbs once the case was solved.

“Go home Kate, Ziva.” Gibbs told the two women on his team as they were crowded around Kate’s computer.

“We will Gibbs. We’re just doing some research before we do.” Kate said.

“On what?” he asked, curious as to what they could be researching at this time of night.

“Y-Pestis. Did you know that y-pestis can come back months even years after the infection and cause damage to the heart, liver, kidneys and other organs?” Ziva questioned rhetorically.

“Since Tony had y-pestis.” Kate told him.

“Yeah I know. I was there Kate. So were you.” Gibbs said as he donned his coat and scarf to walk outside into the cold weather,

“Yes, well, Tony has been having tests done. We are concerned about him.” Ziva said,

“Did you know he’s been wearing a hospital band on his wrist?” Ziva remarked, looking at Gibbs.

“No. If Tony wants you to know what’s going on he’ll tell you. Go home Kate, Ziva.” Gibbs said, getting into the elevator intent on asking Tony what was going on.

He got into his truck and headed home, knowing that that is where Tony was. He had offered to help Kelly with a paper and as tonight was the only night Kelly didn’t have classes he’d be there tonight. Once home he walked in and saw Kelly packing up her research notes.

“Finished then?” he asked, startling them both.

“Yeah, dad. Tony was a fountain of information. There’s dinner in the oven. I’m heading to bed.” Kelly said, pecking first Gibbs then Tony on the cheek and heading upstairs.

“What’s with the hospital band?” Gibbs asked as he began heating up the leftovers from the oven.

“Oh, Dr. Croslei gives one to all her patients as a gag gift. Apparently I make the cut since Dr. Langer retired. It’s nothing to be worried about. Routine tests to make sure the plague isn’t coming back for round two.” Tony said, grabbing a beer for him and Gibbs, moving into the living room to talk before he headed to his apartment to crash since he knew Jeanne Benoit was working in the ER tonight.

“Ah, maybe you should tell that to Kate and Ziva. They seem to be really worried about you.” Gibbs told him, sitting down and taking a long pull from his beer.

“Nah, a little curiosity never hurt anyone.” Tony said.

Gibbs nodded and changed the subject. He didn’t like thinking about how Tony could have died that day. It seemed like it had happened decades ago when in fact was only two years ago. They talked for another hour before Tony headed home and Gibbs headed for the basement.

 Their next case was rather simple, a missing marine dependent who had just run away from her parents because she wanted to be with her boyfriend. They were able to locate her rather quickly and return her to her parents with relative ease, minus the headaches from listening to her whine. Gibbs was glad Kelly was never like that.

They then got a call out to the boondocks for a dead Marine Lieutenant. It turns out she was murdered by another Marine who had been paid off to get two men to America. He thought they were just two rich kids wanting to party in America but when Gibbs and Ziva went to arrest them. While Tony had gone back to DC Gibbs, Ziva, Kate and McGee stayed behind. Kate, Ziva and Gibbs had just left their hotel rooms and Kate and Ziva asked Gibbs if he’d heard from Tony because he hadn’t answered either one of their calls. Gibbs told them that there was nothing to worry about. Tony would get hell from him later once they had closed the case.

Once the case had been closed he confronted Tony about not answering his phone.

“Tony, what is going on with you lately?”

“Nothing boss. I just didn’t answer Ziva or Kate’s calls because I couldn’t hear my phone. I was at a movie with Kelly. Remember she told you about going to see a new action flick last night.” Tony told him, frustrated at both Ziva and Kate’s constant interference.

Gibbs nodded and headed for his truck, Tony heading for his Bronco. Hopefully neither woman would bother Gibbs with their trivial nonsense worrying.

The next few weeks were mostly spent on cold cases until another case that took them into contact with Hollis Mann once again. Thankfully Gibbs managed to get rid of her relatively quickly, before Tony snapped and killed the annoying Army Colonel or Kelly did.

Things came to a head a few weeks later when Mossad gave Ziva a lead that an International Arms Dealer named Goliath was in DC. Tony and Ziva nabbed him then Tony and Gibbs waited till he woke up. Kate was back at the office with McGee trying to track down what they could about Goliath. Tony, Gibbs and Ziva learned that ARES, a mille controlling device, was for sale. Once they had broken the code on Goliath’s laptop they made connections to a man that Tony had photographed weeks ago; Trent Kort. From that point they got hits on potential buyers, one of which included La Grenouille. Gibbs wasn’t happy with Jenny and pretended to not be Happy with Tony, even though he’d known about everything Jenny had asked Tony to do that in any way involved La Grenouille; whether or not Tony did them.

They tried to get La Grenouille but found out that Trent Kort was actually a CIA plant. Director Shepard had given the order for Ziva to stand down and not shoot the frog, which had just reinforced the fact that Jenny Shepard was not right. Gibbs was in no way happy with the director and Ton was still being stalked by Jeanne Benoit, who was actually the frog’s daughter. Things were really beginning to heat up in the OP that Jenny Shepard had tried to sanction but had only been able to sanction parts of due to Tony’s refusal to go undercover.

TBC…

AN: Well hope ya’ll like the chapter. As always Review, comments, and constructive criticism is always welcomed. Flames will be used to heat my house and Flamers will be made into meat pie courtesy of Mrs. Lovett. Bonus points to anyone who guesses the reference and where from and any pertinent information. ;)


	21. Chapter Twenty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbetaed; all mistakes are my own.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS.

** Chapter Twenty **

Their next case was a dead sailor found by a couple in a closed down restaurant. It turned out that their dead man was a serial killer who had been poisoned in the same way his victims had. They were working with Metro and Tony found out that Jeanne was the metro cop’s ex-fiancé. It was strange but it also brought some interesting things into perspective for Tony. The detective’s death had made him realize that in their line of work he could die any day. He wanted to tell Gibbs about his feelings for him but he still was unsure about what could happen if he did. So he decided he would wait.

The case after that was a confusing one; A dead man walking in and asking for them to investigate his murder. Ziva had fallen fast for the dying man and Tony knew it wouldn’t turn out well for her so he made sure Kate and Abby would be there to help pick up the pieces if Ziva did crumble. It made her seem more human and less of an emotionless killer, watching her fall for the man dying of thalium poisoning. He even played decoy when the man asked Ziva to take a walk with him and the doctor started in that he shouldn’t be out of bed. It gave them time to get outside to the walking park in the center of Bethesda’s Hospital Complex. He hoped Ziva would be okay.

Unfortunately their first case after that ended up involving Army CID Colonel Hollis Mann. They’d run into the…woman several times already and every time Mann had hit on Gibbs, pissing Tony off with her annoying persistence. Tony knew from Kelly that Mann had shown up unannounced at Gibbs place several times and Kelly had been the one to kick her out. She’d even asked her dad if he was sleeping with Hollis Mann. The look on his face was one of disgust at just the thought of sleeping with the…woman, if she could be called that. Tony had laughed with Kelly at the supposition that Mann wasn’t a woman. No one on the team really liked her. The fact that she had drinks while on the job with the director just reinforced that dislike. They would be glad when the case was solved and Mann was gone. They did solve the case but not because of Lieutenant Colonel Hollis Mann, actually she was more of a hindrance and the only one that hadn’t jumped when she started giving out orders was Tony and Kate. They’d looked to Gibbs an Ziva and McGee had just paused and waited to see what Tony and Kate would do. Thankfully they had managed to get the serial killing couple off the streets.

A few weeks later and two NCIS Agents were killed in what was supposed to look like a suicide bombing at the site of a future peace coalition. One of the agents had gone to FLETC with McGee and it hit him hard. Tony knew one of the agents because he had worked with him and Paula Cassidy, who had been killed by Ari three years previous. It hit everyone hard that two NCIS Agents were dead. The worst part for Tony was finding out that it was their team not the Agent Simmons* that was supposed to work the hotline that weekend. Tony also knew Agent Simmons, she was a good agents, much like Paula had been but, Tony hadn’t dated Agent Simmons. Gibbs had asked for the weekend off because Kelly and him were going to spend some time together. Tony had been invited but he had already had plans. He didn’t know they were supposed to work that weekend. When Ducky informed them that the man they thought had committed suicide they had to look deeper into the matter. In the End Agent Marianne Simmons died to protect Tony, Kate and Gibbs by knocking the would-be suicide bomber back through the trick wall taking the full force of the explosion. It was a sad weekend for NCIS.

The next few weeks were hectic as ever; Jenny went overseas for a conference leaving Gibbs in charge as acting Director. Tony knew it was driving Gibbs insane, as was Cynthia, the director’s assistant. Kelly had called him plenty of times because of her dad’s increasingly foul mood. In the end Tony ended up staying at Gibbs’ house because Kelly was ready to murder him, that or Jenny when she got back to the states. Tony figured it was better to keep the Gibbs’ occupied to avoid any bloodshed. He still didn’t know how he managed to survive the week with two moody Gibbs’ to watch out for. He was sure he had developed grey hair from keeping Kelly away from her dad and Gibbs away from Kelly. All in all it was a very tense week at the Gibbs house and Tony hoped never to have to go through that again. As far as he knew it was the first major blow up that Gibbs had had with Kelly. He knew there’d been several relatively minor arguments, like most kids had with their parents but things had never escalated to the point it had while Gibbs was the acting director. Tony had even witnessed a few of those minor disagreements and had even been a part of one or two, usually because Gibbs was overprotective and Kelly was annoyed about it. Thankfully Kelly would graduate in another two years. She’d gotten through six years if University and only had two more to go. She had finished her Major of Geology and Geography and her Minor in Chinese Literature and was now working on another degree that went with her first in Geology.**

Things really began to come to a close the week that Jenny Shepard returned to the states. Tony had gone in to the University Hospital to visit his frat Buddy, who had broken his arm, leg and fractured his collarbone and eye socket because of a vehicular Accident. Unfortunately the doctor that was treating his buddy was Jeanne Benoit. He ended up following her to the morgue after a man died because he was a mule for drugs. If shit was gonna happen he would stop it, even if he couldn’t stand to be near Ms. Benoit. He was off duty and had left his weapon in his rental vehicle, since the Supra was in for maintenance and Kelly had his Bronco and his Corvette was in Gibbs’ garage with three flat tires due to an ex-girlfriend of Tony’s.

Tony ended up stopping a man from killing Benoit after she stabbed him with a surgical knife. Nick had dropped the gun when she stabbed him in the shoulder and Tony grabbed the gun and fired off a warning shot, barely missing the drug lord’s head.

As Tony was leaving the building Jeanne caught up to him and told him he should be in for observation for twenty-four hours.

“I’ll be fine, Ms. Benoit” he said as he began to walk away. He was stopped by a limo pulling up right in front of him.

“What’s this?” he asked, hoping it wasn’t what he thought it was.

“You’ll see. It’s my surprise.” She said, an evil glint in her eye. Tony began to get extremely nervous as he was herded into the limousine.

“Ah, so you must be Anthony DiNozzo. Jeanne’s told me much about you. How is Jenny doing?” La Grenouille asked as they pulled away.

Tony immediately and discretely called Jenny in the pre-arranged signal they had set up just in case Tony’s cover from the tagging the bags mission was blown. He also called Gibbs in a pre-arranged signal for if he was ever in trouble. He was using his personal number that only Gibbs, Kelly and Jenny had. Jenny wouldn’t even have the number if it weren’t for her deciding to be a nosy bitch. Suddenly Jeanne got a text from the Monroe University Hospital where she worked about her having not signed the death certificate. Tony planned to use that time to make his escape from the father-daughter duo.

_%NCIS%_

Ziva practically ran into McGee as she was coming off of the elevator. McGee tried to tell her he had been de-fragging the computers. Ziva was livid when she realized that Gibbs had been there too. Ducky had told her the previous night that she was behaving much like a mother with her toddler or a woman with her wayward lover. Ducky didn’t seem to like the way she was acting about Tony not answering her calls. She was very jealous but would never admit it. Kate showed up fifteen minutes later, having received an odd text from Abby. It was that moment that Gibbs phone went off and he looked at it, he knew that Tony was in trouble. At that moment Jenny showed up and asked McGee to triangulate a number before Gibbs could.

“McGee I want you to triangulate a cell number 202-555-0177.

“DiNozzo in trouble?” Gibbs asked, rhetorically.

“I knew It.” Ziva and Kate said at the same time.

“I tried to get Tony to go undercover. To date a woman named Jeanne Benoit, who is La Grenouille’s daughter. He refused but did agree to place tracking devices in the luggage of La Grenouille’s Associates. I fear he may have been found out.” Shepard said.

“When were you planning on telling us this?” Gibbs asked angrily. Shepard didn’t know that Tony had told him about Jenny wanting to place Tony undercover.

“Triangulating.” McGee said as he walked back around the desk to stand in front of the screen in the bullpen.

“Tony Toretto?” Kate asked. Gibbs smirked knowing where Tony had come up with the name for his burn phone that he was using as his personal phone.

“I want this fed into MTAC and I want satellite coverage.” Jenny said heading for MTAC.

“On its way.” McGee said, walking back behind his desk and beginning to type so that everything was transferred into MTAC.

_%Monroe University Hospital%_

“Ah done! Now let’s get out of here before they remember something else.” Jeanne said coming out of the hospital.

“I have to move my car oth…” Tony began, hoping to get out of there.

“Otherwise they’ll tow you for sure.” Jeanne finished before he could.

“Wouldn’t want that. Stay close. Wouldn’t want to lose you.” Rene Benoit said as Tony headed for his car.

%MTAC%

“He’s on 22nd street northwest outside Monroe university hospital.” McGee said.

“He’s on the move”

“Must be in a car.”

“How long until we get satellite coverage?” the director asked.

“At least fifteen minutes. Or we could patch into DC’s traffic cam system. See if we can locate him on the traffic cam management.” McGee said as the director and Gibbs gave him the dirtiest looks imaginable.

“Do it.” Gibbs told him.

“Anything?” Shepard asked turning to Ziva to see if she’d been able to contact Tony’s work phone.

“Still not answering. Should I try his personal phone?” Ziva questioned, hoping Tony was alright.

“Put it on speaker.” The director told her as Ziva ht the button for speaker and the sound of racing vehicles was heard and a catchy beat. It sounded like a homemade compilation for the beginning of the voicemail..

_Tell me what's the secret I'm missin and I’m a come and get it, I’m a be in the middle, well, of the beat So all my thugs if you feel like I feel it Gimme a piece of the pretty pie. Stick out your tongue and say aah….***_

_Drive, too fast, Drive too Furious, I’m too fast for ya’ll man. Drive too fast, drive too furious I’m too fast for ya’ll man…4*_

_You got that, don't wanna two stacks. Hold the front and know how much you got.***_

_Drive, too fast, drive too furious, I’m too fast for ya’ll man. They’ll only get one finger while I’m shifting gears, NOS tank in the back,4*_

**_You’ve reached Toretto, leave a message after the beep._ **

Gibbs chuckled at Tony’s phone’s voicemail. They looked at him not getting it.

“DiNozzo’s cousin is a racer, his last name’s Toretto. That’s Tony’s idea of commemorating his skills.” Gibbs said looking at the slack jawed looks from Jenny, Kate, Ziva and McGee.

At that moment McGee managed to get into the traffic cam system and they watched as Tony drove around DC.

“Someone could be tailing him.” Kate said even as McGee called out the directions.

“Maybe he’s the one doing the tailing.” Gibbs said.

They watched as Tony’s rental went west on M street. Then north onto 29th street then as he continued along 29th his car blew up.

“Oh my god!” Jenny whispered.

“Tony…” Kate and Ziva said at the same time.

Gibbs turned to the director and was extremely pissed with her. His agent, his best agent and the man he loved was dead. His hands began to shake and he walked out of MTAC Calling Kelly to tell her the bad news, that Tony could be dead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They arrived at the scene and Gibbs slowly got out of the car, followed by the rest of his team and the director. He could see the burnt out wreckage and the badly burned body in the driver’s seat. _‘No…Tony can’t be dead. That can’t be Tony. Jenny had better hope it’s not Tony otherwise I **will** have her head. I never even had the chance to tell him…’ _ Gibbs thought as they walked towards the wreckage. They all paused before Gibbs called back to McGee.

“McGee. McGee!” he called, wanting him to get started so they could get this solved as quickly as possible.

Once everything had been collected and they were back at NCIS he headed for Abby’s lab. He ran into Kelly on the way.

“Dad! Please…please tell me it’s not him. Please, dad. It can’t be him, it just can’t! Dad…” Kelly degenerated into a sobbing wreck. It took all of Gibbs’ willpower to stay calm himself. He was trying not to rage and the director. All he wanted to do was go up there a chew her out.

“I don’t know Kelly. We don’t know yet. I wish I could tell you it’s not him but I can’t. I’m sorry.” Gibbs said, holding her and rocking her slightly. He pulled away and wiped her eyes.

“Kelly, go upstairs with Kate okay. Stay with her I’ll be up shortly.” He said before watching her walk away, towards the elevators. He continued on his way to Abby’s lab.

“Tony is not dead, Gibbs. Not until Ducky says it's him. Until then, he's just...he's not here. I don't care what the evidence says, even if everything here belongs to Tony, it's still not him until Ducky says that it's him. And don't try to tell me anything different because I'm not gonna believe you.” Abby said as she began pulling out the evidence cans containing the burnt evidence. “Tell me it's not him, Gibbs.” She said, turning to Gibbs and hugging him. “Tell me it's not him.”

“I wish I could, Abs.” Gibbs said, rubbing her back, trying to comfort her as he had Kelly.

She pulled away and told him she needed to be alone with her ‘gang.’ That’s when Gibbs noticed the glass and bottle that he’d seen previously at Jenny’s house in her study. He asked Abby what they were doing there before heading for Shepard’s office. He was pissed with her and he planned to rip her a new one without getting fired just yet.

McGee was getting into an argument with Ziva about the person in the car being Tony. He kept going through the photos from the explosion because something Gibbs had said was bugging him. He told Ziva it was possible it wasn’t Tony but she kept saying it was because his phones, ID, badge and weapon were in the car. Once he told Ziva that he was looking for a vehicle that Tony could have been following and that’s when they spotted the limousine.

“The limousine is leased to a shell company. The parent company is EuroFreight.”

“Head office is in Luxemborg”

“The principal behind the company isowned by Rene Benoit.”

“Tony could have been following La Grenouille.”

“I’m sorry to differ Timothy but he wasn’t.” Ducky said coming into the bullpen and turning to Gibbs. “Look, Tony contracted pneumonic plague as I’m sure everyone can remember.” He said.

“Before my time” Ziva commented.

“He almost died.” McGee put in.

“From severe pneumonia. As a result his lungs would have been extensively scarred; unlike the almost pristine lungs of the man currently in autopsy. The body on which I am performing an autopsy is not Tony’s.” Ducky said, smiling at the good news.

“If it’s not Tony then who is it?” Jenny questioned.

“And where is DiNozzo?” Gibbs asked.

At that moment Trent Kort walked into NCIS wanting to know where Tony was.

“Director Shepard.” Kort said as he walked up to the gathered group, of which Kate and Kelly had joined.

Mr. Kort. An unannounced visit by the CIA usually means someone’s in trouble. I trust it isn’t you.” Jenny said in lieu of a proper greeting.

“Where is he?” Kort asked

“It depends on who he is.” Shepard responded.

“DiNozzo.” Kort told her.

“I honestly don’t know and even if I did I wouldn’t tell you until you explained to me why you’re looking for him so urgently.” Jenny parried, answering quite truthly.

“La Grenouille flew into DC this morning, he didn't arrive at his safe house, and his satellite phone has stopped transmitting.” Kort told them, rather unhappily.

“Mislaid your arms dealer, that's gotta be embarrassing.” Gibbs said, wanting to rub the fact in.

“I don’t know what NCIS is up to but I want a private briefing in your office now.” Kort demanded of Shepard.

“I’ll decide what briefing you get and where you get it Mr. Kort. And if you have a problem with that why don’t you have your director give me a call.” She said rather snippily.

“You are jeapordising one of the most important long term covert operations the agency has ever conducted.” Kort tried to guilt them.

“Operation Lodestone.” Gibbs said, showing they already knew about the operation.

“You’re not read in on Lodestone.”

“Okay, so read us in.” Gibbs told Kort.

“Unless the CIA just believes in one way traffic.” Jenny countered.

“This is not going to end well for you.” Kort tried to subtly threaten or warn.

“Special Agent DiNozzo’s car was bombed this morning but I guess you knew that.” Gibbs said as the followed Kort to the elevator.

“He wasn’t in it” Kort said, exasperated.

“Thanks for sharing” Jenny told him sarcastically.

“The agency had nothing to do with it.” Kort told her.

“That when you mislaid your frog? In all that confusion.” Gibbs smirked, rubbing in the fact they’d lost La Grenouille.

 Just then the elevator doors opened revealing a smiling Tony. Gibbs was extremely relieved to see the younger man.

“Ha ha! Hey! My car blew up this morning! Did you do that?” Tony said to Kort, laughing.

Kort grabbed him and shoved him against the elevator’s door slot, keeping it open, his arm across his throat.

“Where did you go with La Grenouille?” Kort questioned.

Tony groaned and looked off to the side, right at Gibbs. Kort also looked over and saw Gibbs, Kate, McGee and Ziva all pointing their guns at him. Kort released him and Tony told him that the frog preferred Rene and that he should use the frog for himself. He told Kort to take the stairs and as Kort entered the elevator Tony threw over his shoulder.

“Happy Frog Hunting!”

Tony Gibbs and the director headed for her office where Shepard played the video of the explosion.

“That was more exciting live.” He told them, taking a seat at the table in the conference room they were using.

“You saw it? You were there?” Jenny asked him, seeming extremely shocked.

“Saw it, heard it, felt it.” Tony told them both.

“You can start whenever you're ready.” Jenny said.

“He was waiting when I left the hospital this morning after visiting my friend who was there awaiting surgery. Apparently Jeanne had arranged it. It was her little surprise, I guess. She’s been stalking me for months and I still don’t have a clear idea as to why. I figured that he’d figured out I was the one to tag the luggage, turns out he’d known for months.

Gibbs: Kort?´Gibbs asked him.

“Probably. I tried talking my way out of it, made it as far as my car.” Tony told them.

_#Flashback#_

Tony was getting into his car as Rene Benoit called out to him.

“Hey, Tony! Tony!”

“Crap.” Tony muttered to himself.

La Grenoullie: “There is no need to take your car. Henry will drive it. You come with Jeanne and me.” Rene said, standing next to Tony who was still partially seated in his car.

“Oh, that's really nice of you, I, uh, gotta go, I really.....I need to go home and change because…”Tony tried to talk his way out but Rene Benoit leaned in and whispered in his ear.

“I absolutely insist, Agent DiNozzo.” Tony looked at him and knew shit was about to get really hairy. Tony handed his keys to Henry.

 “Careful in second, it tends to stick a little.” He told Henry.

“And your cellphone.” Henry told him, holding his hand out. Tony handed him the NCIS phone.

“Both of them.” Renee told him. He handed over his personal phone as well.

“You do know this is considered kidnapping of a federal agent.” Tony told him even as they headed for the limousine.

_#End Flashback#_

“Did La Grenouille tell his daughter you were a federal agent?

“He didn't miss a beat. Pretended everything was fine. I could see that she knew though. Just the way she was acting, I don’t think she cared. That calmness didn't last long. I could see his guy driving my car a few car lengths behind us when... Kaboom.

“What was La Grenouille's first reaction?” Jenny asked as Gibbs filled a glass with water and handed it to Tony before sitting back down.

“That he was the target. I'm not so sure.”

“You think it was you Tony?” Gibbs asked him, knowing this was definitely not easy for Tony.

Was my car, boss. And we certainly have ticked off the agency allot lately. Well, the director and I have ticked off the agency a lot lately. Although mainly me.” Tony rambled.

“For what it's worth, Kort denied Agency involvement.” Gibbs told Tony.

“Mmm, that's because Kort doesn't play by agency rules. Guy's got a hair trigger.” Tony told Gibbs.

“Where did La Grenouille take you?” The director asked him, trying to get as much information from him as possible.

“We stopped at a park and made some calls. Jeanne acted shaken up and kept clinging to me like a limpet. It took all of my willpower not to slap some sense into her.” Tony told the director.

“If you had agreed to the op things wouldn’t have ened as badly as they did.” Jenny tried to convince him.

“Thank you so much for that, Director, I am gonna keep that in mind for next time! Oh, wait a second, there's not gonna be a next time!” Tony said, before getting agry with her. If she hadn’t tried to get him to work her op he wouldn’t be in any of this damn mess.

“What did Jeanne say?” Shepard asked, trying to get as much iformation as possible. Not noticing the danger inherent in pissing Tony and Gibbs off.

“Nothing I'm gonna tell you.” Tony told her, not knowing exactly what Jeanne had meant nor what she was planning.

“Agent DiNozzo!” Jenny’s voice was commanding.

“Nothing you need to know, Director!” Tony tod her, planning to handling the fall out himself since he wasn’t sure why Jeanne had been stalking him. He looked at Gibbs and saw the pride on his face. It made him extremely glad that he was standing his ground with the, obviously insane, director.

“Where is La Grenouille?”

“I don’t know. He dropped me off at the main gate before heading west. Probably halfway to California by now.” Tony told her before telling them that Rene planned to leave the business and only trusted NCIS.

They tried to find Jeanne Benoit but she was long gone and then Shepard got a call from Rene Benoit. Thankfully Gibbs was there and heard everything. He wasn’t happy with Shepard’s handling of the arms dealer’s request. The next day they found out that someone matching Rene Benoit’s description was at the Marina. Gibbs, McGee and Ziva headed there but it seemed as if La Grenouille had already left. No-one knew just how much shit was about to hit the fan.

TBC…

AN: Hope Ya’ll enjoyed this chapter and it’s twists. As always Comments, reviews, and constructive criticism is welcomed. All flame will be used to melt this damnable snow and all flamers will be dealt with by the use of a Dragon Slave. Overkill? Perhaps.

*Agent Marianne Simmons is not a real NCIS character, that I know of. I needed a character to replace Paula Cassidy since she was killed by Ari instead of Kate.

** A Major in Geology and Geography can last from between 4-6 years. I know because my mother was majoring in the same thing as Kelly. Actually my mother’s major and minor is the same as Kelly’s. At least it was until she got sick.

***The lyrics are from the Fast and The furious movie **_Say AHH (Mercedes Benz)_** _by **Shawnna**_

****The beginning of **_Act A Fool_** _by **Ludacris**_. It’s from the 2 Fast 2 Furious movie.

Note I mixed the songs up a bit and took lines that I felt would fit Tony’s street racer persona, one that he was using to throw Jeanne off if she ever got the burn phone’s number. Probably not songs Tony would normally listen to but he doesn’t want Jeanne to know it’s his phone since she **is** a stalker bitch.


	22. Chapter Twenty-One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbetaed; all mistakes are my own.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS.

** Chapter Twenty-One **

The next few weeks were very busy ones. Their first case after Tony’s rental car was blown up was a convoluted mess dealing with paid surrogacy and murder which resulted in a missing newborn. Thankfully they were able to find and return the child to the biological parents. Tony knew that the case had hit a rather sore point with Gibbs, considering that he could have lost Kelly to the same car crash that had killed his first wife Shannon. Of course the case that followed would have to involve Gibbs’ second and thankfully, hopefully, last ex-wife, Stephanie. Tony had heard all about Gibbs’ two failed marriages from not only Gibbs but Kelly as well. Gibbs’ first ex-wife, Diane, had cheated on him and ultimately married that man, who just happened to be Fornell. Gibbs had warned Fornell about Diane but Fornell had to learn the hard way. Stephanie was the one that took a nine iron to Gibbs head when he refused to send Kelly away to boarding school even though she was 17 going on 18. That was a few months before Kelly’s birthday and before Tony literally tackled Gibbs in an alley in Baltimore.

By that time Gibbs was already going through a divorce battle with the crazed woman and Tony was just glad to have never met the woman until now. The case also ended up being on an Army base so they had to work with Lieutenant Colonel Mann…again. She was still trying to get into Gibbs pants but Gibbs saw right through her act not to mention he couldn’t stand the woman, if she could be called that. They finally closed the case and Tony went to Gibbs’ house to pick up Kelly for their night out on the town. When he got there Stephanie was just leaving, she’d stopped by to give Gibbs his dog tags back. Kelly had nearly punched the woman but Gibbs had managed to stop that from happening, even if he would have loved nothing more than to let Kelly punch her. Kelly had never liked the woman and Tony could see why. Stephanie, while looking sexy, was a bitch of epic proportions. She also seemed to blame Gibbs for everything even if she was at fault. It was no wonder Gibbs had divorced her, that and her ultimatum wasn’t one he would tolerate. Tony just hoped that they wouldn’t run into Stephanie again anytime soon.

Not long after that case they ended up with another murder by accident. Ducky was hosting a group of Naval personnel and had removed the brain from a John Doe whose body had been donated for research and once he’d begun handing it around a silver liquid began to leak from it. The man had been murdered with a shot of mercury to the base of the spine. They went to investigate the area where Metro Police had found the body and ended up noticing a young woman while asking around at a nearby diner. Courtney Kreiger; FBI. It seems that their John Doe was an informant on a man named Kamal Konkoni aka The Eraser. It became a joint investigation with the FBI, which brought them into contact with Fornell once again. Thankfully after getting a bit of the run around they were able to find Kamal Konkoni and his Apprentice.

Tony remembered Ziva’s question to him as he drove home that night.

_#Flashback#_

_They were sitting in MTAC watching the FBI take down Konkani when Ziva asked him a question._

_“Did you get her number?”_

_“Who, Courtney? No.” he’d said, even as he heard Kate snicker softly behind him._

_“I did. She wants to learn how to fight.” Ziva said, snatching the piece of popcorn he’d thrown towards his mouth._

_He, Gibbs and Kate had looked at her in shock. They all knew just how badly Ziva had disliked Courtney and that she had not only gotten the woman’s number but was going to teach her how to fight was a shock. He looked at Kate out of the corner of his eye then shared a look with Gibbs. There was something more to iva’s statement then what she was letting on. The inflection in her tone suggested something much different. She was too smug about getting the FBI Agent’s number. They’d just keep their eyes and ears open to see if anything came of their suspicions._

_#End Flashback#_

Tony was glad to see the end of that case. He didn’t have any plans so he went home to relax. Thankfully Jeanne Benoit had disappeared off the radar at the same time as her father had. He just hoped that whatever it was that she had been planning would never come to fruition.

_%Unknown Location%%_

A dark haired woman sat in a chair in her hotel room seething.

 _‘That damn idiot. How hard can it be to make him fall in love with me. He was said to be a player! Father said it would be easy! That the daughter of an old “friend” was after him and she was some big wig at some agency. That she was sending someone to get close to me! Why did he never try let alone never take up my offers for more closeness. Who the hell was that little bitch there that night?! Now Father and I have NO ONE on the inside to feed us information. Father said it would be easy to trick him into siding with us! Now Father’s missing, probably dead and I’m on the run hiding from the damned CIA. I WILL have my revenge on Tony DiNozzo!’_ she thought.

As she sat there running everything around in her head the phone rang.

“Hello?” she answered.

“I have information for you…Ms. Benoit. If you would care to hear it, meet me in three hours at the café two blocks from your hotel.”

“Who is this?”

“A friend, that’s all you need to know.” The man on the other end said before hanging up. She stared at the phone, listening to the dial tone before placing it back upon the cradle.

 _‘I wonder who that is. Should I meet him? It might be worth my while and if it isn’t…Father taught me well how to hide a dead body.’_ She thought before getting up and heading to the bathroom to get ready to meet the mystery caller. _‘Things may be looking up after all.’_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next few weeks were less crazy for them and Tony was thankful. The day they got their next case they were working on paperwork. Abby came in and was all excited, apparently they had all promised to go with Abby to see Brain Matter, Abby’s friend’s band.

 “Yaay! Tonight’s the night.” Abby said as she came around the corner.

“What night?” McGee asked her.

“Brain matter.” Abby told them.

“Brain matter?” Ziva asked.

“Yeah. My friend’s band. Remember?

“Brain…Brain Matter?” Tony said, trying to remember when she asked him to go.

“Yeah you guys all promised me you’d go with me.” Abby said as she handed Kate her ticket.

“All of us?” McGee asked her.

“All of you.” She told him.

Even me?”

“Even you.” Abby told Tony as she hand him a ticket.

“And you.” She turned to Ziva and handed her a ticket.

“And You.” Abby said handing McGee a ticket.

Ziva was the first to make an excuse that she couldn’t go, Tony followed and McGee tried to make an excuse but Abby thwarted that one. Kate was the only one that didn’t try to get out of it.

“I’ve got nothing better to do then…then to see….” McGee began, stuttering at having Abby’s spiked cuff in his face.

“A dead body, McGee.” Gibbs interrupted as he walked into the bullpen and headed to his desk.

“You read my mind boss.” McGee said, releieved to not have to go to one of Abby’s concerts.

“It’s a quick read.” Tony said, a subtle dig at McGee’s obvious relief.

“Pack up; full kit.” Gibbs said as he opened the drawer of his desk and tossed a bottle of pills to McGee who caught them

“Motion sickness meds?” McGee asked as he read the label.

“Chopper’s waiting at NAS Anacostia.” Gibbs said, typing at his computer.

“I’m fine on a chopper boss.” McGee said as he tossed the bottle of meds back to Gibbs.

Gibbs threw the bottle back at McGee before saying, “Chopper takes us to the ship, McGee. USNS Chimera. Get briefed at Anacostia.”

McGee’s shoulders slumped as Gibbs told him they would be going to a naval ship. McGee told him it wasn’t listed on the Navy’s registrar of ships and Gibbs gave him a look. Tony used Pig Latin to try and make McGee feel better as he gave Abby the ticket back followed by Ziva and McGee. Kate was the last and she was the one that had actually been looking forward to a night out with Abby.

They got to Anacostia an were getting ready to board the chopper while being briefed.

“Oh I get it, boss. It’s a Black Ship.” Tony said with a foreign Accent once they had been told that the ship was top secret above their pay grade.

“Black Sheep?” Ziva asked confused.

“No. They don’t exist.” Tony told her.

“Oh I’ve seen black sheep.” Ziva told him.

“No I said Black Ship not sheep. Clearly the US Navy is still intent on pulling the wool over the eyes of the American people. Sir.” Tony said.

The man tried to tell them that they couldn’t bring the camer but Gibbs overrode his command. When they got out to the ship no-one was answering their radio calls that the pilot of the chopper was making. Gibbs decided they would stay anyway after they had boarded the ship. They decided to see if they could find the crew but it seemed as if the entire crew had disappeared. Hopefully they could find someone or at least find the dead body they were to investigate.

Within five minutes McGee was in the head puking. Ziva and Kate both owed him ten dollars. Ducky and Gibbs were opn deck looking around and they had noticed that there were no life boats aboard the ship. They heard a groan and went running below deck to find out what it was.

“Where’s McGee?” Gibbs asked as he and Ducky got to where Tony, Ziva and Kate were standing.

“Calling earl. Shouting groceries. Making street pizza. Technicolor yawn.” Tony told him as he pointed to the door in front of him.

“Found something.” McGee said as he exited the head.”Lost something too.” Tony said, picking up his bag before following the other five.

They followed McGee into the lab like room. They were talking about why there would be a lab on board when they heard a noise from above them. It sounded like it had come from the cargo hold above them. Gibbs told Tony, McGee and Ziva to check out the cargo hold and had Ducky and Kate follow him.

Tony: (singing) “Baa Baa black ship have you any wool? Yes sir. Yes sir, but in order to see it you're going to need top secret government clearance.” Tony sang, the tune haunting just like the song Hoist the Colours from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.

He’d recently seen it with Kelly and amazingly enough, Gibbs. He was still shocked that Kelly had managed to talk her dad into going to the movies with them. He didn’t know how but he kind of wanted to know how as well. It might come in handy at a later point.

“Someone or something is on the ship, with us. I can feel it.” Ziva said as she walked around the hold.

“Uh, yeah, I can see it.” McGee said as he looked over Tony’s shoulder. Tony turned around and jumped back as he saw the large rat behind him.

“Scared much, DiNozzo?” McGee asked, smiling smugly.

“Stuff it McBarfbag.” Tony told him.

“It's just a cute, little rat. Why the irrational fear?” Ziva asked.

“It's not cute. It's not little. And it's not irrational.” He told her as they continued searching the hold.

“Cowardly, then.”

“Not if you're, uh, someone who survived a bout of pneumonic plague. Thank you very much. Rats are a known carrier. I used to love rats, back before the plague. Was a regular Willard.”

“What is a Willard?”

“It's a movie.” McGee told her before Tony could.

“Mmm.”

“Willard had a pet rat named Ben, was a social misfit, made fun of by his coworkers, had a creepy boss.” Tony told her.

“No wonder you're related.”

“You think Gibbs is creepy?” Tony couldn’t see how anyone would think Gibbs was creepy. Scary sometimes, but not creepy. Of course Tony thought he was sexy too but he had no intentions of telling anyone that. It was bad enough he’d slipped up and told Kelly one night after three hellish weeks of back to back cases and very little sleep. Thankfully she’d never mentioned it other than to try and convince him to tell her dad.

“I think she meant the social misfit, made fun of part.” McGee told him.

“Shhh. Did you hear that?” Ziva asked them.

“No.” Tony and McGee answered at the same time.

“There’s something aboard. Other than a rat.” Ziva told them.

“What do your astute ninja Mossad senses tell you it is?” Tony asked, trying to be a smart ass.

“In Mossad, part of the training is to be open to things you cannot see. Or even understand.” Ziva said as they cautiously made their way down the corridor.

“You mean the supernatural.” McGee interjected.

“Call it what you want. Not everything can be explained by the laws of the natural world.” Ziva explained.

“You believe in ghosts?” Tony asked her, slightly disbelieving.

“I do not, not believe in ghosts, or demons, or monsters. We are on a ship called the chimera.” She said.

“I thought chimera meant delusion or fantasy?” McGee asked, confused.

“In Greek mythology a chimera is a monster with a lion’s head a goat’s body and a dragon’s tail.” Ziva told them as they continued down the corridor.

“So you think they named this ship the Chimera because there's a monster on board?” Tony asked her.

“They did not name it the Puppy!” Ziva told them, exasperated. Just then she halted them before slowly reaching her hand out to the handle of the door in front of them.

The door opened and caused them all to jump back. “Boo.” Gibbs said. “Get in here.” He told them motioning for them to enter before heading back to where Ducky and Kate were kneeling.

“Well whatever’s on this boat must be pretty scary if it got them to ditch this delicious lookin’…what is this stuff?”

“Don’t ask me. That’s not a request that’s a command.” McGee said as they continued towards ducky and noticed the vomit on the floor.

“Ooh, the plot sickens.” Tony said.

Ducky and Gibbs were conversing about the vomit while McGee began taking pictures before McGee moved back groaning.

“Steady probie.” Tony said

“Tell that to my stomach.” McGee said, groaning. Tony bent down to the heaight of McGee’s stomach.

“Steady probie's stomach.” He said.

“I wouldn’t stand there if I were you McGee.” Kate said, knowing it could compromise the crime scene.

“I see your point. Don’t want to compromise the crime scene.” Tony said, looking at McGee.

Just then Ziva noticed a patial footprint in blood. That footprint led to more which led into the freezer. They opened the door and a dead body fell out. Ducky told Ziva she was right that someone was on board with them but she said it was someone alive. Tony said someone had to have tossed the man on the creamed corn. McGee didn’t like hearing the words creamed corn because they made him feel sicker and want to puke again. After doing an initial assessment, which ducky said was asphyxia McGee called Abby and didn’t recognize the music she had on, which was Brain Matter.

“You guys okay?” Abby asked him.

“Oh yeah, yeah we’re peachy. I am dealing with my boat-phobia, Tony's dealing with his rat-phobia, and Ziva's dealing with her ghost-phobia.” McGee told her.

“So, what's Gibbs dealing with?” Abby asked.

“Them.” Gibbs said, pushing McGee out of the way.

He would have had Abby get the director but she showed up and that when they found out that Ducky’s initial disgnosis was wrong and that it looked as if Dr. Takada, their dead man, had died of Viral Hemorrhagic Fever. If Ducky’s diagnosis was correct and they had been exposed then they would be dead by morning. It wasn’t a comforting thought, especially for Gibbs. He may be reckless at times bet he didn’t want to leave Kelly alone now. She’d find a way to bring him back and kill him herself. They were in the lab and Ducky was doing a basic autopsy as best he could with the primitive conditions, even thought he’d done autopsies in much more primitive conditions.

“You know what killed him?” Gibbs asked.

“Well, if Dr. Takada was a bit too fond of scotch then what I’m seeing here is esophageal varices and this tear caused blood to enter his esophagus, causing him to vomit blood. Or Dr. Takada could have had a severe gastro-intestinal infection that produced a Mallory-Weiss tear, in which case the vomiting would have come first. Neither diagnosis is inconsistent with hemorrhagic fever.” Ducky told him.

“And if we were exposed?” Gibbs asked him.

“Well I’m hampered from prognosticating further until Dr. DiNozzo gives me a proper blood analysis.” Ducky said, looking at Tony.

“Abby, where's the gas chromata-thinga?” Tony asked Abby who was on the feed behind him.

“It's the boxy looking thing, with the, um, circular door-like thing on the front.” Abby told him, trying to use words Tony would understand.

“Oh. I got it.” Tony said, seeing the aforementioned machine.

“Ok good. Now, um, put the sample in the circular rack like thing at the top.”

“Got it.”

“Ok press the blue start button. It’s, it’s blue-ish and square-ish. It’s on a tower on the top Tony, the tower like thing.”

“Got it.”

“While were waiting for the analysis let’s get the blood count so place a small amount of blood on your slide. It’s amazing what we can learn from blood even before it’s analyzed. I mean the, the color the texture the smell. Ok um, now take out the dropper of methylene blue. It’s blue-ish and it’s dropper like.” Abby explained, she had never had to walk someone through the forensics side of it without actually being the one to do the work.

“Got it.” Tony told her as he found the chemical she had told him he needed.

“Ok now place two drops of the methylene blue on your slide.”

“We’re good.”

“Of course, blood that's passed through so much GI tract has very a particular smell.” Abby said just as Tony took a few whiffs of the blood. “But since this guy may have died from a highly contagious virus, whatever you do, do not inhale it.”

“We're not good.” Tony said, grimacing

“Hey, you okay, DiNozzo?” Gibbs asked, as he turned around and looked at Tony.

“Not for long.” Tony told him, placing the slide on the microscope. He didn’t notice as Gibbs gave him a once-over.

“Where’s my blood analysis, DiNozzo?” Ducky asked, frustrated.

“I’m working on it, Ducky. It may be the last thing I do.” Tony said as he tried to make sense out of what he was seeing.

“Let’s hope not. May I?” Ducky said as he came around to the microscope.

Tony let him take a look and he told them that there were increased white blood cells which was indicative of the body trying to fight of an infection or virus. McGee came in then and told them Shepard wanted to see Gibbs and Ducky. After talking with them they left and Shepard argued with the commander about having placed the ship on quarantine.

“We’ve been through almost every room on this ship.” Ziva said while they were looking at the scematics.

“Almost only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades.” Gibbs told them.

They went to go over the ship again and McGee tried to stay with Ducky but was shot down by Ducky himself. As they were looking Tony noticed an itchy spot and started arguing with Ziva about it. To settle their argument Gibbs called Ducky for the symptoms of the virus. After Ziva saw something and followed it Tony noticed a door that said bio-hazard on it and pointed it out to Gibbs. After they had left McGee working on the lock to the bio-hazard room Gibbs noticed a dead rat and had Tony take it back to Ducky. While he was doing that the lights went out. Shortly afte Ziva had told them she’d noticed a door that had said electrical Room they followed her and ran into a man who tried to get away thinking it was them that had hit him over the head. After catching him Tony took the rat to Ducky before going to help McGee get the power back on. While searching Tony found the transponders from the life jackets. He took them to Gibbs who confronted the cuffed Midas, thinking he was the one that had removed them from the life jackets.

“You were in the electricl room when the power went out.” Gibbs said to the man after he denied removing the transponders.

“I wouldn’t even know how to such off the power! I’m just the cook!” Midas told them.

“Just the cook?! Yeah, that's what Steven Seagal said in Under Siege, and look at the havoc he wreaked, huh? What about the Hunt for Red October? The saboteur was the cook.” Tony said, angered. Gibbs gave him a look and he stopped rambling about movies. “I'm sorry, boss. I'm just saying that, you know, just because he says he's the cook, doesn't mean he's isn't potentially guilty. He could have slipped poison into Takada's food.” Tony told him.

Just then Ducky showed up and told them that Takada hadn’t been poisoned the virus was injected into him. The lights went on just then and they heard a noise before Ziva and Kate yelled for Gibbs. They had seen someone or something but they weren’t sure what it was they had seen. Gibbs noticed that the signal light was gfoing off and then a net with four barrels was dropped on Tony, who managed to get out of the way in time unharmed. They noticed a man start running and went after him. It turned out to be the radio operator. Gibbs then got on the phone to MTAC and Shepard and began arguing with them abou telling him what the men that were heading to the ship were after. Thankfully McGee had managed to get the door to the bio-hazard room open and they went to it, leaving Shepard an the commander alone. Gibbs went in and looked at what was in the box. Ziva then showed up and said they had spotted the assault craft. It was about five minutes out, maybe less. The six of them came up with a plan and implemented it. They stole the Russians assault craft and left the boat and the radio operator with the Russians. Since they’d stolen the Russian ship they headed towards land. They were talking aboiut the ruse they had played and what was in the box, Russian Nuclear Warheads, when a missile hit the ship and blew it up.

“How did they know we were off the ship?” Kate asked Gibbs.

“Don’t think they did.” He told them. Tony looked at him, he’d known the navy could be assholes but he hadn’t realized they would risk incurring the wrath of the director of NCIS, not to mention the SecNav and many others. Apparently some people in the Naval food chain had decided they were expendable, despite the fallout it would cause. Hopefully they would never have to be on another Black Ship otherwise Tony would seriously consider pulling a Gibbs and “retire.” It would be nice to get back to more normal cases, with less espionage and less secrets needing very high clearances. He had no idea just how long that could take.

TBC…

AN: Hope ya’ll liked this chappie. I had a hard time condensing it because there was a lot of dialogue I liked in this episode. Can anyone guess who the mysterious woman is? She’s probably not so mysterious after all though. As always, reviews, comments and Constructive criticism is welcomed. Flames and flamers are not. Flames will be used to keep me warm in this shitty winter weather and Flamers will be given to Erik Northman and that crazy King of Mississippi, Russel.


	23. Chapter Twenty-Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbetaed; all mistakes are my own.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS.

** Chapter Twenty-Two **

The weekend came and went and they finished up the paperwork for the case and then went to work on cold cases. They had made out really well. Tony had found a few new leads on two cold cases that had belonged to Pacci. He’d followed up on hose leads and it had led to the arrest of one perp, a rapist that enjoyed causing harm to men in the navy, and a search for a person of interest in three assaults on three different women whose husbands were deployed overseas.

Ever since the case on the Chimera Tony had had the song Hoist the Colours stuck in his head. He had found himself singing it on his way to work or at odd moments. Thankfully no-one had caught him yet. He was on his way over to Gibbs house to hang out and help Kelly with a paper for her history class and was singing the opening lines when he walked in.

“The king and his men, stole the queen from her bed, and bound her in her bones. The seas be ours and by the powers, where we will, we’ll roam. Yo Ho, all hands, Hoist the colours high, Heave Ho, Thieves and Beggars, Never Shall We Die!”

“Nice song, DiNozzo.” Gibbs said, smirking at him.

“Shit, Boss! Don’t do that. Yeah well. Ever since the Chimera I’ve had that song stuck in my head. Did you ever figure out why they sent that missile when they didn’t know we were off the ship?” he asked as he hadn’t had a chance to before now.

“Yeah, they didn’t want the public to know about the secret op they were running The idiot that decided that has since been dishonorably discharged. It was someone that didn’t have the proper authority to make that decision. Never consulted anyone higher either.” Gibbs said, unusually talkative for once.

“Ah. So where’s Kelly?” Tony asked, wanting to change the subject.

“Kitchen, making a snack.” Gibbs said before turning and heading to the basement to work on the boat. Tony just shook his head fondly and headed for the kitchen to get Kelly moving so they could get this paper she had due in three days done.

A few days later Tony, Kate, and McGee were working on some paperwork while Gibbs had gone out for coffee. While he was out a young woman showed up wanting to speak with Gibbs. When the elevator showed up Abby was with him.

“No.” Gibbs said as he walked out of the elevator with Abby following him.

“Please, Please. Please, please, please Gibbs?” Abby pleaded with him.

“No.” he told her.

“Ugh, okay. I’ll never ask you for anything else again ever. I promise.”

“Abby. Come on. Ever?” Gibbs knew Abby wouldn’t ever not ask for something.

“Well, okay maybe not ever but I won’t ask for anything else for at least like, a week.”

“Sure. Where and when?” He couldn’t deny Abby for very long.

“Here and now.” She told him, holding up her phone. Just as she snapped his picture McGee came up and her picture didn’t take right.

“Boss, there is a young woman here waiting to see you. I sent here to the lounge.” McGee said as he stood there waiting for Abby to take his picture.

“Name?” he asked,

“Maddie Tyler.”

“About?”

“Twenty-two, twenty-three.” Gibbs just looked at him. “Sorry. Uh, personal, she wouldn’t say.” McGee said. Gibbs began to walk off, heading towards the lounge.

“Uh. Gibbs!” Abby called after him, he turned around slightly and smiled a bit before leaving.

McGee looked at Abby questioningly. “It’s for my cell phone so when Gibbs calls his face will appear and I’ll know it’s him. See?” Abby told McGee, showing him the picture on her phone.

“Nice… print.” McGee told her. Abby turned the phone back around and saw that her finger obscured Gibbs’ picture. “Awwww” she stomped her foot in frustration.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Oh, Hi.” Maddie stood up to greet him.

“Special Agent Gibbs.” He said, sitting his coffe down on the table.

“I know. I, I, I mean, I remember. But you… probably don’t. I’m Maddie, Maddie Tyler. It’s been a long time. Um, I use to come over to your house. I was Kelly’s best friend. Or uh I mean at least I remember it myself, being her best friend. I like to think she thought so too.” Maddie rambled as they sat down. Gibbs didn’t realize that she didn’t know Kelly was aive, then again not many did know she was alive.

“You lived on base?” Gibbs asked her.

“Marine brat. My dad was an officer.” She told him.

“I remember. A Good man.” He did remember her father now.

“He retired, moved back to Oakland. Died a couple years ago. I’m um finishing my degree at Georgetown. Science. I guess you’re, wondering why I’m here. This is gonna sound so stupid I can’t believe I’m…I need some help and you’re the only person I know who...” she trailed off.

“Problems?” he questioned.

“Guy problems. Crazy guy problems. I went on a couple dates with him about eighteen months ago. He’s a marine. Went to Iraq, just got back a week ago. He came to see me, you know wanted to get things started again but I mean there was… there was nothing to start because nothing had ever gotten started. I tried to explain that but he kept insisting. He was desperate to move in with me and uh when I said no, it wasn’t what he wanted to hear.” Maddie told him.

“Is he stalking you? Did you report him to the police?” Gibbs asked her, still wondering why she’d come to him instead of the police.

“They said there nothing they can do, it’s only been a week.” She explained. Now he understood why she’d come to him.

“He threaten you? He hurt you?” she showed him her arm, pulling her long sleeve up, showing the livid bruise.

“I don’t think he meant to, he just kind of grabbed me but, he’s really freaking me out.” Maddie told him, it was obvious she was scared.

“What’s this marine’s name?” he questioned.

“Rudi Haas.”

“Where do I find him?”

“Outside my house.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Sexy!” Abby said as she snapped Kate’s picture with her phone.

“Cute!” Abby said after taking McGee’s picture.

“Pretty.” Abby told Ziva before moving to Tony.

“Tony.” Abby said after seeing the face Tony made for his picture.

“Hehe that’s the best yet.” Tony said

“Boss!” McGee said and they scrambled to get back to work so they didn’t incur Gibbs’ wrath.

“Oh, I didn’t know you were…sorry Gibbs.” Abby said as Gibbs walked past them and she had snapped his picture with the young woman.

They watched Gibbs walk to the elevator and get on with the young woman after the director had disembarked.

“Know her?” Ziva asked after they had left.

“Wish I could say I did.” Tony told them.

“Maddie Tyler.” Abby informed them.

“Who is?” Tony asked her.

“Ask McGee” Abby said.

“Said it was personal.” He told them.

“New girlfriend?” Ziva queried.

“Too young.” Abby replied.

“Not a red head.” Tony put in.

“Niece?” Ziva threw out.

“Nice. McGeek, McGoogle, her name.” Tony said, even though he knew that Gibbs’ nephew was too old and his great-niece was too young and his great-nephew was too young as well.

“Oh I can do you one better. Myspace.” McGee informed hem, having pulled up Maddie Tyler’s Myspace.

“Well, she has an eclectic taste in music. Everything from Yoyo Mott to Metallica.” Abby said, speaking her thought aloud.

“Lots of friends. College kids mainly.” McGee informed.

“And one from her childhood. My first and still my best friend, Kelly. Forever in my memory.” Ziva said, reading the caption on the photo.

“Gibbs’ daughter was named Kelly.” Abby told them. She knew that not everyone on the team knew that Kelly was alive. Actually she was pretty sure Ziva was the only one that didn’t know that Kelly was alive.

“One in the same.” McGee commented.

“Mystery solved.” Tony said, still a little confused as to what was going on but he was sure Gibbs would tell them if they needed to know. He was also sure that he would find out from Kelly if it wasn’t anything major.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gibbs had taken Maddie home and scared off the marine before Maddie invited him upstairs for coffee. She began looking for a photo album to show Gibbs. Once she’d found it she showed him the photo in question. Said she couldn’t remember who had taken the photo. Gibbs had been the one but had never found out why they were laughing. She hadn’t realized Kelly had never told him. Gibbs didn’t know that Maddie didn’t know Kelly was alive. He’d inform her later, once he’d gotten to the bottom of this mess that Maddie had inadvertently gotten herself into. She’d tried to give him the photo but he’d managed to thwart her attempts. He’d also learned what they’d been doing. They had buried a time capsule that day and were sitting on it when he’d snapped the picture. The Tyler’s had moved before he’d shipped out later that month because her father had been moved to another base. As he left he noticed Rudi sitting in his car on the phone. He headed towards the man and he took off. Gibbs hoped he wouldn’t come back.

When he got back to the office he had McGee run a background check on Rudi Haas. The director decided to stick her nose in where it didn’t belong. He told her it was a background check on the ground of stalking even though maddie hadn’t filed a complaint. McGee had stopped typing when the director showed up and started typing again when she told him to do it.

“She knew.” Ziva whispered slightly.

“Reads Gibbs like a book.” McGee said.

“Short read, not a lot of dialogue.” Tony said.

“Your kind of book.” Ziva said, not realizing what she was implying nor how close to the truth she was.

“Are you suggesting I don't read?” Tony asked, He knew that he hid his smarts from them but he hadn’t realized that they thought he was that shallow and stupid. Oh well, they’d learn the hard way.

“Think she's suggesting that you only look at the pictures Tony.” McGee told him, smirking.

“Well, a picture paints a thousand words McGee.” Tony replied to McGee’s taunt.

“And in your case most are the names of female body parts.” Ziva tossed out smugly. She had no idea just how wrong she was.

“I'll have you know that since 1981 I have been a loyal subscriber to National Geographic Magazine. Some serious picture-gazing right there.” He said, deciding to use the fact they thought he didn’t read to his advantage.

“So how'd she know?” McGee asked, curious.

“Women's intuition.” Ziva told them.

“Do you have that?” Tony asked Ziva getting a death glare from her. “Forget I asked that question.” He said.

“The director could see that Gibbs was pre-occupied with something, and she saw him with the girl.” Ziva explained.

“Sounds more like male logic than women's intuition.” McGee commented.

“Either way I think she's worried about him.” Tony said.

“Question is should we be?” McGee queried.

Gibbs had gone home and was talking to Kelly about the time capsule when Maddie called him, saying that Rudi had come back. When he got there she was gone, her door had been kicked in, the deadbolt broken. He heard her screaming and looked outside, watching as an unknown man pushed her into Haas’ car. He headed outside hoping to stop them from getting away but he couldn’t get a shot without risking hitting Maddie. He headed for his car and called Tony to tell him to put a BOLO out on Rudi Haas’ vehicle and Rudi Haas as well. He headed back to the office and immediately asked for an update. He told McGee they needed a picture of Maddie as well to send out and McGee told him Abby had on from when she’d been trying to get Gibbs; picture.

As the case progressed they found out that the man that had tried to hire Haas had the man’s SUV wired with a GPS that was activated. That’s when they found out that two of his former employees were being investigated for stealing money from Iraqi people but they hadn’t been able to find the money.

Gibbs had had to tell Shepard that Maddie was a family friend from fifteen years ago. She understood now that she must have been friends with his, supposedly dead, daughter Kelly.

After finding Haas’ body in the closed down clothing factory and his cause of death Gibbs left to go back to Maddie’s apartment. That’s when they realized that the one thing Maddie Tyler had that Haas didn’t was a street address which meant mail.

“Tony?” Jenny asked after Gibbs had left.

“Director.”

“Any idea where he went?” she asked him.

“No.”

“Hazard a guess?”

“Well he took his badge, and his gun. Maybe he's going to shoot someone.” He told her. McGee went to Gibbs’s desk.

“Oh boy!” he exclaimed, holding up Gibbs’ badge and ID. Gibbs had once again gone off Grid. He was good for doing that.

Things really began to pick up then. After Gibbs had disappeared they were hoping he’d show up.

“Calling Gibbs?” Tony asked Ziva.

“He did not pick up.”

“Worried about him?” he asked her, he was worried about Gibbs too but he wouldn’t tell her that.

“Are you?” she asked him.

“You be worried about him. I'll be tentatively troubled, privately perturbed, fleetingly flustered.” He told her. He was often flustered around Gibbs, he was just able to hide that very well. Gibbs often invoked all kinds of emotions in him.

“Have you called him?” Ziva queried.

“I would have to be deeply discombobulated to even think of calling him.” He told her, even though he had called him so he was deeply discombobulated at the fact that Gibbs had gone off grid.

After Gibbs had disappeared and they’d figured out why Gibbs had left Abby had found something. Tony went down to Abby’s lab with the director and was informed that the substance on the nails was Bluefin tuna and that there were only a few places that were involved in it and one of them was near the old docks, which is where the director had told Gibbs the two men that were being investigated had last had the GPS tracker Tony headed out. He parked the car and got out, moving slowly around the buildings. He heard gunshots and saw through the nearby fence a car go into the water. He ran around to the front of the building and shot the men that had been shooting at the car and had turned their guns on him. He shot to kill before tossing his gun and diving into the water. He first tried to open the door then smash the windows. Eventually he was able to get the window shield pulled ou and Gibbs pushed Maddie to him. He carried her up and out of the water, laying her flat on the docks before jumping back into the water to save Gibbs. Gibbs had already passed out and Tony tried to get him out but the steering wheel was trapping Gibbs’ legs.

He pulled and jerked on the steering wheel before finally he was able to break it free, releasing Gibbs from its clutches. He got the man to the surface and onto the docks next to Maddie. He checked his pulse as he had done Maddie’s but it was extremely weak and thready, almost non-existent..

“Oh God, don't make me kiss you boss!” Tony said, hoping the threat would work even though he knew it wouldn’t.

He bent down and began giving Gibbs CPR. He’d never thought the only way he’d get to kiss Gibbs would be when he was unconscious if not dead. His lips were cold from the dirty Potomac river and Tony pulled away to begin giving the man chest compression. He repeated the process several times before he knew he had to try and save Maddie’s life. He moved over to the young woman and began to give her CPR hoping to bring the water up out of her lungs. She began coughing up the water and Tony breathed a small sigh of relief before moving back to Gibbs.

_%%Gibbs; POV%%_

He’d watched Tony take Maddie up to the surface before trying to break the steering wheel. His lungs were burning already and he knew he probably wouldn’t make it. He just hoped Kelly would understand. His vision began to go black and he passed out, taking in water as he did.

_“Jethro, go back. You need to move on. It’s okay Jethro. Go back, there’s someone who needs you more than I do. Kelly needs you, so does he. Go, Jethro. I approve. I love you, Jethro. Go back.” Shannon said, smiling serenely._

_%%End Gibbs’ POV%%_

Tony smiled as Gibbs began to cough up the water from his lungs. Maddie had grabbed Gibbs’ hand while he worked on his boss. He was just glad that they were both okay. Just then Ziva, McGee and Kate showed up followed by Ambulances and Ducky. How that happened Tony wouldn’t know. Gibbs tried to get out of going to the hospital but Tony made sure he went with a very quiet word in his ear. Once the crime scene had been taken care of he made the rest of the team head back to the office before going home and changing.

He’d just gotten changed when he began coughing. He must have breathed in some of the water without realizing it. He grabbed his emergency inhaler and managed to take a few puffs from it, letting the medicine go to work before heading out. He’d just arrived at the hospital when he coughed up some water from his lungs. He was able to breathe a little better because of it.

He walked in and asked after Gibbs and Maddie. They were in the same room and Kelly had just come out.

“Tony! Thank god you’re okay. Dad said you jumped in and saved him and Maddie then gave them both CPR. You should have gotten checked out at the scene.” She scolded him, leading him to the room with two beds where Maddie and Gibbs were.

“I’m fine Kelly.” Tony told her.

“Hey Boss, Maddie. How are you feeling?” he asked them.

“Don’t need to be here. Where’s the doctor?” Gibbs said, in his typical manner.

“Still reeling. All these years and Kelly was alive.” Maddie said. Tony chuckled.

“Believe me, I know what you mean. When I met Kelly for the first time she looked ready to kill.” Tony said. “Then a year ago if I hadn’t known about Kelly I would have been more pissed than I was.” He followed up before trailing off as he got another coughing fit. This time he couldn’t stop.

“Shit, Tony!” Kelly and Gibbs exclaimed.

“We need help in here!” Kelly called out as nurses came running in. She and her dad explained the situation and got him on oxygen. Dr. Pitt, who was working the ER that night had been walking past when the commotion started and they managed to get the coughing under control relatively quickly.

“Tony, you should know that because of the plague you need to be careful.” He told him as Tony was seated next to Gibbs in the chair.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. You’re not gonna keep me are you, Brad?” Tony asked him.

“It depends on how stubborn you are.” Brad told him, smirking. Tony groaned.

Maddie was taken upstairs to a room and Tony ended up in her place once the bedding had been changed and everything cleaned. They wheeled him to X-Ray and got pictures of his lungs which showed that Tony just had some irritation due to the dirty water he’d inhaled.

Brad told Tony that he’d release him as long as someone would be there to keep an eye on him and Gibbs and Kelly both agreed to keep an eye on him. Tony was just glad that no-one was seriously injured, other than the dead bad guys. Hopefully Gibbs wouldn’t go off grid again anytime soon.

TBC…

AN: Hope ya’ll enjoyed this chapter. As always reviews, comments and constructive criticism is welcomed. Flames will be used to make bon-fires and flamers will be given to the Vampire King of Mississippi, Russel.


	24. Chapter Twenty-Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbetaed; all mistakes are my own.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or any other recognizable characters.

** Chapter Twenty-Three **

A few days after Maddie Tyler had showed up at NCIS looking for help from Gibbs things were slowly going back to normal. Well normal for them that is. Kelly and Maddie had been playing catch up, so Tony was left to himself for the most part. He was still staying at the Gibbs residence so he wasn’t completely alone but he knew sooner or later he’d drive Gibbs up the wall. The murky water that he’d accidentally inhaled was still irritating his lungs but he was glad it wasn’t worse. Brad had told him it could have been much worse than just some irritation. Tony had gotten a very stern warning in the form of a lecture from Ducky on the hazards he could face with his lungs compromised like they were. Gibbs had also gotten a stern lecture about going off grid from not only Kelly and Tony, but Ducky too. Thankfully nothing had come up case wise so Tony could relax.

Things had returned to normal within a week, with the added bonus of Tony spending time with, not only Kelly but Maddie as well. He had somehow ended up hanging with both women when Kelly had decided she wanted to go dancing and found out Maddie didn’t know how to dance. Tony had been roped into teaching Maddie how to dance like he was teaching Kelly. He didn’t mind, it meant that everyone could rest easy, Gibbs included.

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A few weeks had gone by since Tony had taken a dive into the Potomac to save Gibbs and Maddie Tyler. McGee had brought by his scout troop to see NCIS and Abby had ran a young boy’s prints through AFIS as a demonstration on how the program worked. No-one had thought that anything would pop up but when Carson Taylor’s print popped up as him being an abducted child they were shocked. They dug into his father’s past and found out he was the one to kidnap Carson after his wife drowned and her mother sued for custody and won.

Gibbs, Tony, McGee, Kate and Ziva went to Carson’s house and spoke with his mother Elaine, who was actually his step-mother. McGee and Gibbs were talking with her while Tony, Kate and Ziva looked around Carson’s room. Kate and Ziva had tried to point out ll the similarities they were noticing between Tony and Carson but Tony didn’t seem to get it. Unbeknownst to them he did see the correlation and if it weren’t for the fact that him and kids didn’t often get along he would have offered to take Carson home with him while they figured things out. It still surprised him that he got along with Kelly so well, though she wasn’t exactly a kid which could explain it. Gibbs had managed to trick the director into taking Carson and when Carson called to talk to him he headed over. It took him an hour because of a traffic accident but when he got there he recognized the music coming from the director’s study immediately. Years of having Tony hanging around had ingrained that knowledge.

“Jazz?” he asked Jenny because last he knew she wasn’t too fond of Jazz.

“His favorite.” She told him.

“Ziva and Kate were right. DiNozzo.” He said, seeing it for himself that Carson could be a carbon copy of Tony.

It was while they were looking for leads they found that he was wanted for murder. Ziva called Metro and made the mistake of agreeing for them to hand deliver the cold case file that Brian Taylor was a suspect in. Tony told Ziva that it was the oldest trick in the books and a way for local cops to stay on the case. He made sure she was the one to tell Gibbs of her faux paux. Abby was watching Carson while they were looking for leads and her and Carson managed to beat Tony’s score at a movie trivia game.

It was while they were searching for Brian Taylor that Abby learned that Brian had been framed by none other than the Metro detective Collins who was a dirty cop. It brought back memories for Tony of his ex-partner Danny from when he was a Homicide Detective with Baltimore PD. It also pissed him off so he was glad to arrest Collins. He’d never liked the man and arresting him for murder was a bonus in his books. If he was a little rougher than normal he could attribute it to his hating dirty cops and Collins putting up a fight. It was a happy reunion for Carson, Brian and Elaine.

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Their next case dealt with an escaped mental patient, Corporal Damon Werth. The young Marine was sent back from Iraq ahead of his unit and suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He’d attacked the night nurse who was handing out meds, despite his being in a strait jacket, and had hijacked a car that was leaving Bethesda’s parking lot. They managed to track Werth to where one of his men, PFC Stone, t another hospital where he was undergoing Physical Therapy for the injuries he’d received after being captured along with Werth and two other guys. They were visiting PFC Stone when Damon Werth showed up. Gibbs managed to talk Damon down but McGee cuffed him to quickly and Werth flipped out. He broke McGee’s arm, managed to knock Gibbs into a table and broke Tony’s nose. Ziva was abe to handle him for a time until he rammed his head into hers. Tony, Gibbs and Ziva were able to overpower Werth together and get the man cuffed.

Tony and McGee were at the hospital while Ziva and Gibbs went back to the Navy Yard with Werth. Kate was rather lucky as she had gotten the flu and was out on sick leave when the case went down. Abby had come up and was freaking out, Ziva had tried to calm her but Abby proceeded to get nasty with her, calling her a totally emotionless perfect warrior. It was later in their case, after Gibbs had talked with Werth and then a Senator, Senator Hawkins, had had him transferred back to Bethesda. Ziva was feeling something for Werth, which made Tony glad because maybe she had quit trying to hit on him. Tony knew that Ziva’s flirting got to Kelly too and Gibbs as well. Though Tony thought that Gibbs’ reasoning had more to do with Rule 12 than any kind of jealousy on the older man’s part. Tony wouldn’t mind if Gibbs wanted more than just a working relationship and friendship but knew it wouldn’t happen.

They managed to close the case after Abby and Ducky found masking agents in Cpl. Damon Werth’s urinalysis. It seemed Werth had steroids in his system, too complicate matters more Senator Hawkins was awarding the Silver Star to Werth personally because they were both from Michigan. The Senator’s Public Affairs man was interfering in ways that were rapidly pissing Gibbs off. After they had figured out that Werth was being dosed with steroids and was suffering from  steroid induced problems. Tony, Gibbs, McGee and Ziva went back to Bethesda to speak with Cpl. Werth after he’d been transferred back there on the senator’s orders. They got there and Dr. De La Casa allowed them in to see the Marine even when the senator’s aid tried to keep them out. While Gibbs and Ziva were in the room Werth began to crash because someone had given him too high of a dose of the sedative. Gibbs and De La Casa held Worth down while Ziva gave him the injection of Adrenaline that the doctor had handed her. McGee and Tony were watching the feed when Ziva began giving the shot to Werth.

“She’s pulling Pulp Fiction.” Tony said.

“On the hulk.” McGee commented before following Tony out of the surveillance room and to Werth’s room.

Meanwhile Gibbs jumped the suddenly very angry Werth and got tossed into the wall behind them. Werth then grabbed Ziva and slammed her into the wall, off of her feet. They stared into each other’s eyes before Worth allowed her feet to touch the floor then collapsed into her.

At that point in time Tony and McGee showed up wondering what had happened. De La Casa denied being the one to try and kill him. Gibbs asked who administered the doctor’s orders and they realized it was the nurse that Werth had previously locked up when he escaped. They went after him and he tried to run but Ziva took him down, taking her anger at what had happened to Werth out on the orderly. It was after that that they found out that Werth had started taking steroids because his own blood wouldn’t allow him to join the Marines due to a rare abnormality. The Marines would decide if he still got his silver star but the senator would not be the one to award it to him if he did. Later that night Gibbs, knowing that Tony was the one that went and received Gibbs’ medals in lieu of Gibbs and where he kept them, grabbed the silver star and dropped it off at the hospital on Damon Werth’s bedside stand. The man deserved the medal after all he had done in the war.

Following that case they investigated the murder of a Marine who was Muslim. At first it appeared as if he had been killed by a gunshot wound but upon further examination by use of a MRI they found a needle tip. It was a very old needle and it contained traces of a neurotoxin from the blue ringed octopus. During their investigation Ziva brought the young marine’s father down to speak with Ducky and he asked Ducky not to cut open his son. Ducky agreed and refused to do an autopsy.It was during that case that Jenny Shepard’s tru colors began to come out, she was forcing Ducky to do the Autopsy but he managed to outsmart her and found another way to do an autopsy without opening the man up and thus preventing his religious beliefs to be fulfilled. He made sure she knew that she had to turn a blind eye to what would happen and he called in a favor from an old friend at Bethesda. Once they had gotten those leads they had arrested a man that was a supply clerk at a facility dealing with biological toxins and other research. They then arrested the marine reservist that was also a parole officer for the marine’s murder. It turns out he didn’t kill Abdul but he knew where the German, Hans Steiger aka The Recruiter, was at and he made a deal after Gibbs and Ziva tricked him into thinking he would go to Gitmo. When they got there Steiger was already dead and Ziva began to say she recognized the prayer beads in the man’s hands but Gibbs stopped her because he understood wanting revenge. They were able to close the case and release the body to the family.

It wasn’t long after their run in with Damon Werth that Kate ran into Ziva with Damon at a restaurant. It gave Tony and Kate some ammunition on Ziva to tease her about, something that definitely made Tony’s day. The weekend came and finally they weren’t on call. Tony had plans to relax around his apartment but Kelly called and asked him to go to a movie with her and her dad as she’d managed to talk him into going for the second time. Tony agreed and just as he was leaving he ran into someone that looked vaguely familiar.

“Sorry. Wasn’t watching where I was going.” Tony said, helping the young man up.

“It’s alright man.” The guy said before heading into Tony’s building. Tony watched him leave before cursing, He was gonna be late if he didn’t leave now.

After the movie, Tony, Kelly and Gibbs headed out to a nearby bar for dinner and while they were waiting Tony noticed the same man from earlier walk in. He paused, looked around then pulled out his cellphone and called someone. Tony began to fidget slightly, something both Gibbs’ picked up on.

“Tony? Everything alright?” Kelly asked.

“Yeah. Maybe. I think so.” He said, slightly distracted.

At that moment their food arrived and they began to eat. It was while they were eating and talking that the man Tony ran into came over.

“Tony? Tony DiNozzo?” the guy asked.

Tony, Gibbs and Kelly looked up at him.

“Maybe. Why?”

The guy had a slightly pouty look on his face when he replied. “You don’t recognize me? I’m Jesse. Dom’s friend.”

“Jesse! Where’d ya go man!” a very familiar voice called, before pushing their way through the crowd.

“Over here!” Jesse called just as another man, taller than Jesse and almost as tall as Tony came over.

“Hey…” he trailed off at seeing who Jesse was talking with. “Tony! Hey man! Didn’t know you were here.”

“Brian.” Tony stood up and pulled the other man into a brief hug before stepping back.

“What’re you two doing here? I thought you guys were in Cali?” Tony queried the blonde.

“We were. Came out here for a vacation. That and Mia’s here for a class trip and you know how Dom gets bout Mia.” Brian said just as another, slightly shorter but more muscular man showed up.

“Bri you’re up. Tony? What you doin’ here? Thought you worked most weekends.”

“I do. We’re not on call though so I’m hangin’ out with some friends. Let me introduce you.” Tony smiled before turning to Kelly and Gibbs.

“That’s Kelly and her dad Gibbs. Gibbs is also my boss at work. Kelly, Boss, this is my cousin, Dominic, his...” he trailed off unsure as to how to introduce Brian. Thankfully Dom interjected. “Lover.”

“Brian, Dom’s Lover, and finally the youngest of the ‘strays’ Dom collects, Jesse. They’re all from LA.” He finished, having pointed to each of them in turn. He’d met Jesse shortly before the whole thing with Brian had gone down.

“Hi. It’s nice meeting you.” Kelly was polite whereas her dad just looked at them in askance before going back to his beer.

“Don’t mind him, he’s always like that.” Tony said.

“You doin’ anything tomorrow?” Dom asked.

“Nah, not that I know of, unless Kelly’s already got plans and never told me.” He replied looking at Kelly who just shook her head no.

“Why don’t you come over then? We can hang out, catch up. Mia will be there too and she’s gonna want ta grill ya.” Dom told him, smirking.

“Sure. Still at Uncle Nico’s place?” Tony agreed.

“Yep.”

“Cool See you around….say 1000?”

“Sounds good. Well, have fun. We gotta get back before Leon sends out the search party for Jesse here. See ya later man!” Brian told him before dragging Dom and Jesse off, presumably to meet up with the Leon he’d mentioned.

“I thought you didn’t talk to anyone in your family Tony?” Kelly asked after the three had left.

“I don’t. Dom’s father was born an illegitimate child to my Nonno DiNozzo. Uncle Nicolai got his mom’s last name. He doesn’t associate with anyone in the family but me and his sister. He’s the one that gave me the Supra.” He told her, smiling.*

“Oh. That explains why he doesn’t look like he’s related.” Kelly said and that was the end of the conversation. They stuck around a bit longer before heading their separate ways; Kelly to Maddie’s apartment, Gibbs to his house and Tony to his own apartment.

The next day Tony got around before heading to his Uncle’s old house. Dom and Mia had inherited it when Uncle Nico died in that accident. Tony had flown out shortly after he’d heard the news and had been able to get Dom’s sentence changed to something lighter under the circumstances. It was so weird to know he was older than Dom but they looked pretty close in age. He got to the house, driving the Supra and stepped out. He’d seen the gawking from the two men and the one woman he didn’t know at his getting out of the Supra. He wondered if they knew that Dom had given it to him. Just then Jesse stepped out from around the side of the house.

“I thought I recognized that engine!” He exclaimed. “You seem to know how to treat that car. Least now I ain’t gotta worry.” He said before laughing as Tony was bombarded with a very excited Mia.

“Tony!!!” Mia cried out, throwing herself into his arms and laughing as he spun her around.

“Mia, my cugina. How are you?” he asked after he’d set her back on her feet.

“Good. I’m studying to be a doctor, which definitely comes in handy with this bunch.” She replied smiling. “Come out back. The grill’s already fired up.” She led him around the side of the house the other three following cautiously and Jesse bouncing alongside her.

“Mia, have you seen…” Dom trailed off as he saw who Mia was dragging to the backyard.

“Tony. I see you made it. Didn’t have trouble finding it did you?” he asked.

“Of course I made it and no I didn’t. I just had to drive like I was taught since traffic in DC’s a bitch. You’d think they’d be used to vehicles driving like that since Gibbs does live here.” Tony said, laughing.

“Ah, so your boss drives like he’s in NASCAR too?” Mia asked, remembering the name that Dom had mentioned last night.

“Oh yeah. Him and his daughter both. Not to mention our fiery Mossad Liaison who drives using…what did she call them…oh yeah. Evasive driving maneuvers.” Tony replied, laughing about the first time McGee had ridden with Ziva. Kate even said that Ziva was worse than Gibbs.

“Dom, whose the cop?” someone asked, not sounding happy about having a cop around, and how he knew Tony was a cop was beyond him.

“Not a cop, least not technically.” Tony replied, smirking. “You gonna freak out like Brian did?”

“Depends on what it is you do.”

“NCIS.” Tony smirked, wondering if anyone would get the reference.

“Never heard of em.”

“Vince…” Dom growled.

“Vince is it? Well NCIS stand for Naval Criminal Investigative Services. I’m basically a Navy Cop but my agency is a part of the Alphabet Soup of Federal Agencies. Oh don’t go getting all uppity, I only deal with crimes committed by or against our service men and women in the Navy and the Marine Corps.” Tony laughed, remembering when he’d met Gibbs and called him a Navy Cop.

“So you’re a fed?” the other guy asked.

“Yeah, dealing with the Navy and Marine Corps. We don’t jump the gun like the Feebs do.” At the confused looks he clarified. “FBI. They tend to be annoying and only two are actually worthy of knowing.” He smirked.

“Vince, chill. He’s cool.” Brian said coming into the mix of heated glares.

“What’s he doin’ here Dom?” Vince questioned.

“He’s family, Vince.”

“Yeah. Tony DiNozzo. Dom and Mia’s cousin.” Tony smirked at the slack jawed looked Vince gave him.

“That’s Vince, ignore him. Leon’s the one next to him. Letty, Jesse whom you already know, and Brian who you’ve also met.” Mia introduced. “Now sit back, relax and catch me up on what you’ve been doing since we last talked.” Mia demanded, pushing Tony into a chair and taking one next to him before talking his ear off. It had been too long since they had been able to catch up properly.

Tony ended up crashing there that night. When he got up and ready he headed down to the kitchen, his gun and badge secured on his person.

“Morning Tony.” Mia greeted. He smiled in greeting before snagging some coffee and sitting to eat breakfast with the rest of the “family” as they trickled in. He got some startled looks from Jesse and Leon when they sat at the table.

“What? I gotta work today. My Boss is a bastard and rather proud of it.” He smirked, knowing that if they ever met his boss they’d be shocked.

Once he’d eaten he headed out and left. Walking into the bullpen he knew he’d catch hell from Kate, Ziva and McGee about wearing something that wasn’t his normal suits. They’d think he’d had a hot date. Boy would they be surprised to learn that he’d actually been with family. First he had to play a joke first. Thankfully things were quiet and he hoped they’d remain that way.

TBC…

AN: Mostly just a filler chapter. Hope you all enjoyed this one. For those that don’t know Italian translations will be below. As always Reviews, Comments and Constructive Criticism is always appreciated. Flames are not and will be fed to my dragon. Flamers will be sent to the Everglades to be eaten by the dinosaurs that live there ;)

Nonno-grandfather

Cougina-cousin(female)

*I had to come up with a believable story that would allow for the Torretto’s to be related to Tony so, since we all know that Anthony Sr is a hound dog he had to get it from somewhere and I felt that Tony’s grandfather would work best. Hence the grandpa had an affair that resulted in an illegitimate child who took on the mother’s name of Torretto and thus Nicolai Torretto was born. Since there’s no mention of what Dom and Mia’s dad’s name is I went with Nicolai. So Tony’s uncle them got married had Dom then had Mia, lost his wife, and then died himself. Since it wasn’t as accepted to have kids out of wedlock then as it is now(even in the 70’s and 80’s it wasn’t as accepted.) So that’s the explaination for Dominic Torretto being related to Tony DiNozzo.


	25. Chapter Twenty-Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeated; all mistakes are my own.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or any other recognizable character.

** Chapter Twenty-Four **

Unfortunately the next day they got a case and ended up on stake outs and Tony was paired with McGee of all people. He’d rather have been paired with Gibbs or even Kate but he instead got stuck with McGee. Probably because Gibbs didn’t want to be stuck with him and Ziva or stick McGee with Ziva. She’d probably kill him. Someone had stolen a Navy Radar and stashed it in a storage locker. The tip on where the stolen radar was had been anonymous. Of course that stakeout resulted in a prank war between Tony, Kate and Ziva with Kate often siding with Tony. It was that same case that Ducky asked Abby to run some tests on a John Doe. After giving Ducky the results and then talking with Palmer she went to Gibbs thinking that Ducky was the one who was sick. After they had figured out that it was the creator who had stolen his own radar system because it didn’t work Gibbs went and talked with Ducky. Ducky denied that the blood was his and told Gibbs that it was confidential. Gibbs realized there were only a few people that Ducky would stick his neck out for and the director, as much of a bitch as she was, was one of them. Ducky’s look said it all. Jenny Shepard was sick. That night Gibbs stopped by Tony’s apartment after having sent them all home before going down to speak with Ducky.

Tony opened the door and was shocked to see his boss standing there.

“Boss? What are you doing here?” Tony asked, letting the man in and grabbing two beers from his fridge before sitting down on the couch next to Gibbs.

“Abby came to me earlier. Ducky had her run some blood that was from a John Doe. There’s no John Doe in the morgue.” He said before taking a pull from the bottle of beer Tony had handed him.

“Shit. Don’t tell me Ducky’s sick?” Tony exclaimed, worrying about Ducky.

“No, not Ducky. Jenny.” Gibbs looked askance at Tony, whose face showed shock.

“That why she’s out of the country?” Tony asked.

“Probably. Know that you an her don’t see eye to eye sometimes but thought you’d want to know. Needed to tell someone, too.” Gibbs took another pull from the beer as he let everything sink in.

“We need to keep a good eye on her Gibbs. She’s already starting to go over the deep end.” He told him, knowing Gibbs would agree with him.

“It would explain her obsession about the frog.” Gibbs agreed with Tony’s assessment of keeping an eye on their director.

They sat in silence, drinking their beers and absently watching the movie on Tony’ TV.

“Want another Gibbs?” Tony asked, getting up to get another beer. Gibbs nodded in response, he could use another drink.

“Could do with something stronger.”

“Got some scotch. It’s not bourbon but…” Tony trailed off uncertainly.

“It’ll do.”

Tony nodded grabbed two beers and two glasses before grabbing the bottle of Scotch. It was more expensive so he knew it would go down smooth. He handed gibbs the bottle of beer and the glass, setting his own bottle and glass down before opening the scotch and pouring some for them both. They both ended up drinking way more than they should have since they were on call but they didn’t care much. Jenny may be a bitch but she was also rather lenient with them and the team, even when she was butting into their cases. Gibbs ended up crashing on Tony’s couch and Tony headed to bed, but first he called Kelly so she wouldn’t worry. The next morning they managed to negotiate getting ready for work without bloodshed, even if they had done so before at Gibbs’ house, and headed into work, both suffering from slight hangovers that they managed to hide from their co-workers. Hopefully Jenny Shepard would not go downhill to quickly otherwise they would have to force her to go to a hospital and they both knew how stubborn that woman could be.

Their next case came when they got a tip that someone was smuggling drugs from Panama to Pax River Naval Base. After they had done some digging and surveillance they went after a drug sniffing dog handler out of Pax River. They were serving the warrant after lunch and they found the man dead. Meanwhile McGee was attacked by the man’s dog. They thought the dog had attacked his owner after getting a taste of cocaine. Abby renamed the dog Jethro because Butch was just too Butch. During te course of their investigation their new prime suspect was killed. Abby had taken Jethro out of the lab before the person from Pax River showed up to take him and put him to sleep. Jethro then led Abby to a buried body that turned out to be another canine’s skeleton. It was after that that their new suspect ended up dead. Then Jethro began coughing up blood and Abby took him to Autopsy where, after and X-Ray, Ducky and Jimmy did surgery to remove what turned out to be a piece of a knife. Jethro had accidentally swallowed it when he was licking his owner’s wounds. He also tried dragging his owner to get help by his arm which explained the blood all over Jethro and the saliva on the Petty Officer as well as the flesh in Jethro’s teeth. Abby was right, Jethro was innocent.

After that they learned that the knife that killed Petty Officer hanson was a knife issued at Pax Military Base. They tracked down who had requisitioned a new combat boot knife and learned that another handler, Erica Perrelli, had requisitioned one. After doing a small test where another handler’s dog reacted to some cocaine that McGee had signed out of evidence and Perrelli’s didn’t they had their drug smuggler’s accomplice. Perrelli had killed her trained dog and substituted him for an attack dog because she had needed the dog to not react to drugs. After that case was solved Abby talked to the Base Commander who agreed Abby could keep the dog but then Abby’s landlord said no. Abby first talked to Tony who couldn’t take him either and Kate was out because she had Toni already. Abby then managed to talk McGee into taking Jethro.

Tony was glad the case was finally done. It meant that he could go home and relax, even if he’d rather spend his free time at Gibbs’ house with him. The night they’d gotten drunk after finding out that Jenny could possibly be sick had been over a week ago and Tony had almost told the man about his feelings but something had stopped him. He had a very bad feeling things were about to be shaken up once again at work and adding anything else to worry about was not a good idea. He’d even told Gibbs he had a bad feeling that something big ws gonna happen soon and found out Gibbs’ gut was screaming the same thing. Tony had tried to make a joke about it being all the coffee that Gibbs consumed but it had fallen flat. He just wanted whatever to happen soon so that dark cloud could quit hovering over him.

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A body had been fished out of the water and the FBI contacted because of who the person was. Rene Benoit had reappeared, only he was dead. It had taken the local PD so long to find a DNA match because of the fact that Rene was a drug dealer and they didn’t have the kind of access that Federal Agencies did. Jeanne was contacted once the identity had been established and she immediately made plans to fly in from where she was at. It had been a bitch to make the notifications and they had had to go through many channels to do it but she was notified. Unbeknownst to the FBI that phone call had given Jeanne Benoit the perfect plot to get her revenge on one Tony DiNozzo. Things were really starting to look better for her. Little did she know, the FBI was already looking at a certain female as their suspect and she would actually be helping them instead. She had been questioned and she had spun a tale that had several FBI Agents in her clutches, though one of them was skeptical because he’d not heard about the information she was telling them.

It had been a few weeks since McGee was attacked by a dog high on cocaine and things had been pretty calm. Tony came into work and found McGee backing up three years’ worth of case files and decided to play a prank on him. After the prank Gibbs walked in wondering if the phones were down and Ziva was the one to check and find that yes, they were. Suddenly McGee’s computers began to Flicker along with Ziva,, Kate, Tony and Gibbs’. Fornell walked in just then, telling them that it was a lock down. Gibbs was the first to be interviewed and found out that La Grenouille’s body had been found in the water months ago and was on ice. He managed to get Fornell to tell him that they were going after Jenny Shepard as they had reason to believe she had killed the arms dealer. It wasn’t much of a shock to Gibbs that they would think that. He remembered how she had denied the frog protection.

Once the interview was over he sat there thinking for a bit before heading back to the evidence lock up where everyone was being held temporarily. He ran into Leon Vance, who paid him back for a cheese Danish nine years after he’d told him he had to. Gibbs didn’t know yet but Vance had already been to see Director Shepard. He was the Assistant Director in San Francisco and SecNav had flown him out there because of the current investigations. Jenny Shepard was suspended on orders from the SecNav.

Kate was the next to be interviewed followed by McGee, then Ziva and finally Ducky before they were released and told not to investigate the murder of Rene Benoit. That left Abby and Tony. For some reason Fornell was of the belief that Tony had been on an undercover assignment that dealt with La Grenouille’s daughter. McGee tried to explain that he didn’t know anything about any undercover operation except for the one in Quebec.  Abby was called first and Tony told her to do what she did best.

“Gibbs gave you a mission. Everyone's counting on you. Just do what you do best.” He said when she looked at him, fear and worry in her eyes and on her face.

“Dance?!” she queried, confused.

“Talk.” He said, giving her a look that told her everything. She gave a very imperceptible nod that said she understood.

Abby did what she did best and talked in the way she was fond of. Meanwhile Gibbs had Ducky get the Autopsy reports from the ME and McGee use his computer, which was older than anything McGee was used to, and hack into the FBI using the stolen FBI ID that he’d discreetly swiped from their guard when they were in the evidence garage. Once McGee had done that they learned that the FBI had a witness o the murder and only an address was provided. Gibbs had Ziva slash the FBI tires and then went to find this so called witness. That’s when he learned it was Jeanne Benoit. He didn’t know what her game was but he planned to try and find out.

Meanwhile Abby had told Fornell and Vance that Shepard had asked her to run some prints from a whiskey bottle and they had come up as being the director’s father’s, Jasper Shepard. Abby was released and Tony was brought in for questioning. Fornell bought him a bag of chips before bringing him into the interrogation room.

“Well, we’ve been here before haven’t we Toby? You were saying some pretty bad stuff about me back then. Ah, I hope you’ve learned a few things since then. I know I have.” Tony said as they walked into the Interrogation Room and took their seats.

“Yep. You’ve done some growing DiNotzo. The director thought enough of you to personally select you for an extended undercover assignment.” Fornell commented before beginning his questioning.

“Yeah, she did. I declined it though. I wasn’t gonna screw up the best thing that’s happened to me in years all for an undercover assignment where she was playing matchmaker.” Tony told him.

“So how did you know the girl?” Fornell hadn’t known Tony wasn’t actually on the assignment. Someone had lied to him.

“Well her father was an international arms dealer; a threat to the country, the world, really. But I don’t really know her, I knew of her, she was stalking me practically though at first I didn’t realize that’s who she was.” Tony explained, he’d never gotten around to filing a complaint because things had happened so fast and suddenly Benoit was gone.

“Ah. Earlier that morning, the day her father died, someone tried to kill her. You barely saved her from a drug dealer and then someone blew up your vehicle in an attempt to get to her.” Fornell was trying to understand what was going on.

“Not so sure they were actually after her. She ambushed me with her father. Dragged me into the limo and I almost escaped but Benoit threatened me and my family.” Tony explained. He honestly didn’t know why his car had gotten blown up.

“The next morning your partner was unable to reach you. So where were you that night?”

“I went for a drive to clear my head and lose any possible tails before going to see my family.” Tony said succinctly, keeping up the ruse that they had told Jenny and later Jeanne.

“You killed La Grenouille!” Fornell exclaimed, accusing Tony.

“I did what?!” Tony was shocked, who the hell would accuse him of killing La Grenouille. Fornell left him alone then.

Meanwhile Gibbs had learned what he could from Jeanne, listened to her bullshit and lies and found out that she supposedly witnessed Tony shooting her father. He headed back to his house and met Kate, McGee, Ducky and Ziva in his basement and told them that Jeanne was saying Tony had been undercover and was dating her. He also told them that she said she witnessed Tony shooting her father.

“Jeanne Benoit saw Tony shoot her father!” Ducky exclaimed in shock.

“He had motive.” Kate commented.

“And means.” McGee added.

“And no alibi.” Ziva said.

Gibbs knew Tony did have an alibi, but that the alibi could and would cause problems. Tony had been with him that night. He had actually gone home but had returned to the office with no-one any wiser that he’d left. Tony had been shaken about the fact that someone was trying to kill him and about Jeanne ambushing him and he hadn’t wanted to go to his apartment in case she showed up but it wasn’t like he could come out and say that because the rest of the team didn’t know that him and Tony were that friendly. Gibbs wished it could be more but knew it wouldn’t happen since Tony was straight.

Jenny Shepard walked into her office with Fornell following. Assistant Director Leon Vance stood behind her desk.

“Don’t get too comfortable. You already scratched my settee.” She said. AT his confused looking around she continued, “Your agents have been tearing apart my house all afternoon and they wouldn’t even tell me what they were looking for.”

“La Grenouille was killed with a 9mm Glock.” Fornell informed her.

“You have a second weapon. A 9mm Glock, registered for personal use. Yet we can’t find it.” Vance said.

“You could’ve asked me.” She told them.

“Where’s the gun?” Vance asked.

“I gave it to La Grenouille.”

“Anybody witness that?” Fornell queried.

“Gibbs.”

“Works for me. Grenouille took the gun. DiNotzo took it from him.” Fornell commented.

“DiNozzo?” she questioned, confused.

“He’s in custody. An eyewitness at the marina saw Agent DiNozzo commit the murder.” Vance told her.

“You have a positive ID at night, in the dark, from a distance?” Jenny asked disbelieving.

“I think she’d recognize her boyfriend.” Fornell said.

Jeanne Benoit is your witness?! You turned my entire department upside down based on her testimony!!! I wanna talk to her!” she was furious, that lying little bitch would pay.

“Absolutely not.” Fornell told her.

“Okay. Okay.” Vance would allow Shepard to talk with the witness, he knew something was going on and he wanted to know what.

Vance, Fornell and Shepard walked to the interrogation room where Fornell had asked his agent to bring their witness, Jeanne Benoit. Jenny walked into the interrogation room while Vance and Fornell walked into the observation room.

“My name is Jenny Shepard. I’m the director of NCIS.” Jenny began after taking her seat.

“Ah give her a little rope.” Vance commented to the nervous Fornell while watching the proceedings.

“Why would you accuse an innocent man of murdering your father? Why would you lie to a federal agency about your involvement with someone?” Jenny questioned. Jeanne’s head shot up so fast she continued. “Yeah, I know you lied because I am the one that wanted to send Tony DiNozzo undercover and he refused. I also know for a fact that **you** were stalking DiNozzo! You, Jeanne Benoit are a liar, a fraud and a very dangerous woman. I know you’re lying about what happened. So quit lying and tell me what really happened Jeanne?” Jenny asked.

“I did it. I killed him.” Jeanne sid, slightly shocked that this woman knew more than what she had realized.

“It feels like that doesn’t it. You’re blaming yourself like you blamed Tony. What I want to know is **why** you were stalking a man that repeatedly asked you to leave him alone?” Jenny continued, curious as to this woman’s motives. She was flipping through nice and caring and angry and pissed pretty quickly and it showed in her line of questioning.

“…………..” Jeanne stayed silent, lowering her head once again.

“Answer Me!” Jenny snapped, slamming her hand down on the table. Gibbs had taught her well and she was extremely pissed that this woman had caused her agency to be turned on its axis because of lies.

“He was supposed to fall in love with me! My father said it would be easy to make him love me! That he was a player! It was supposed to be easy! He was supposed to be our way in! He was supposed to be our informant against you and your government! Father knew you didn’t believe the reports about your father’s death! He knew you knew! You were supposed to rot in prison with help from Tony! But that idiot turned me down!!!!! Said he had a family! We were going to turn your government upside down!!!!!!You stupid **BITCH**! We were going to frame you for murder and live happily somewhere! I was supposed to take over the family business with Tony by my side!!!!! Jeanne screamed, pissed that all her plans had been ruined by one woman. She’d been shocked at the hand slamming down and now her anger was pouring out of her.

“And what did I know?” Jenny asked, calming her voice slightly.

“That your father didn’t commit suicide! You knew he was murdered!” Jeanne exclaimed before lunging at the director, only to be knocked down by the woman.

Several Agents stormed into the room then, including Fornell and Vance.

“Arrest her!” Vance exclaimed as he moved to help Jenny up.

“Take her to the car. I’ve had enough of her lies.” Fornell said, angry that he’d believed the daughter of an international arms dealer with a grudge.

That’s when things really began to unravel. Gibbs showed up with Trent Kort in tow and he explained that the case was over. They had Jeanne on several federal offenses and they were not to investgate La Grenouille’s death any further. The damage had already been done though. Jeanne had admitted that Jasper Shepard was murdered and since La Grenouille was a sanctioned killing unofficially it stood to reason that he’d either killed Shepard or that their own government and more specifically, Trent Kort, had. They would re-open the case but it would probably remain a cold case unless new evidence popped up. Tony saw Kort walking out of the building and punched the man for the hell he’d recently been through. He felt the undercover CIA operative deserved it and he had Kate and Ziva backing him up when Kort decided he was gonna try to fight back. Kort backed off.

Tony, Kate and Ziva watched as Jeanne Benoit was escorted from NCIS in handcuffs. Tony was relieved, he knew that the adrenaline would wear off shortly. When it did he’d crash. Gibbs knew as well and decided to drive Tony home instead of risking the man that he loved, even if Tony didn’t know it, crashing literally and most likely into a pole or a tree. Once he’d gotten Tony to his house and settled they had a few drinks to unwind, Kelly was with Maddie again which didn’t bother either man. He then helped Tony upstairs and to the guest bedroom where he could sleep. He was glad he’d been able to stop the investigation in its tracks without resorting to telling anyone of Tony’s alibi which would have caused a great amount of speculation that neither of them needed or would have wanted. Maybe now things would go back to normal with Jeanne going to prison and forever out of their lives.

TBC…

AN: Hope ya’ll liked that dramatic twist. Jeanne looked like crap in the episode which would explain her outburst here. Sleep deprivation, revenge and who knows what else can cause all kinds of things. I made Jenny actually nice(that and she wouldn’t want to lose one of her best agents) which was interesting. I kind of have her fluctuating her moods a lot. Itt’s never clearly explained whether Jenny Shepard killed La Grenouille or if the CIA did. I’m of both mind in a way. I think that Jenny may have gone there and killed him in revenge for her father’s death and I also think that Kort or the CIA could have. For all we know Kort could have asked Shepard to kill the frog on behalf of the CIA. It also does seem as if Jasper Shepard was killed by either Rene Benoit or the CIA and didn’t actually kill himself. So I went with that and had the case re-opened even if it’s never solved at east no-one can hold her father’s “suicide” over her and she’ll die with a clear-ish conscience. As Always any and all reviews, comments and constructive criticism are welcomed. Flames are not and will be fed to my dragon rather promptly and flamers sent to Bon Temps to be fed to whatever lurks in the night there ;)


	26. Chapter Twenty-Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbetaed; All mistakes are my own.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or any other recognizable characters. They belong to their respective owners and I make no money from this.

** Chapter Twenty-Five **

The following day Tony woke up, a headache forming from all the recent stress, and headed for the shower hoping that it would loosen his neck muscles. It was something he’d dealt with since the academy, tension headaches caused by the muscles in his neck tightening. Sometimes those tension headaches led to migraines but he’d been lucky that he’d only gotten three migraines in the entire seven years he’d worked for NCIS. Once he finished his shower he headed downstairs to find Gibbs sitting at the kitchen table reading the paper and drinking coffee. Gibbs was already finished with most of the aper and handed Tony the sports section to read while he drank his own coffee. Once finished they readied themselves to head into the office and start another day of paperwork, cold cases, and possibly getting a call out to a crime scene.

Their next case ended up being brought to their attention by Ducky. A Marine Captain had been sent from Baghdad upon the request of his wife and SecNav straight to Ducky for Autopsy. It ended up sending Tony and Jardine to Baghdad to figure out who had murdered the man in Autopsy. Tony ended up learning about Jardine’s brother Eric who was a Marine injured there and currently in a Coma at Bethesda. The case was an eye-opener for Tony about the germaphobic Jardine and some of her reasoning. In the end it was Gibbs and McGee who caught the killer as he was coming back into the country. Once Tony and Jardine returned Gibbs had them head home, telling Tony that he could write his report in the morning. It wasn’t Tony’s first time in a War Zone and they both knew it most likely wouldn’t be his last.

After finishing up the reports on their last case they ended up catching another one rather quickly. This time it required Ziva to go undercover at a bar where two wives of men serving overseas frequented and were last seen alive. There was someone murdering them. Ziva ended up having to kill the man and it seemed as if she was slowly unraveling as the case progressed. It apparently hadn’t worked out between her and Damon Werth for unknown reasons. As the case progressed things came to a head and they found out that one of the wives was a copy-cat killing, the husband had killed his own wife because she was cheating on him. It certaintly was an interesting conclusion.

Their next case ended up with Jimmy Palmer seeing a passport and then someone taking that passport and Palmer giving chase. The guy took a few pot shots at Palmer before running off again. Since Vance was still in D.C. because Jenny Shepard had not returned but would be by the end of the week, he wanted the case solved ASAP because he was ready to return to San Diego to be with his wife and children. The case ended up bringing a lot of interesting things to light about Jimmy and also ended up having Gibbs actually approve of something Palmer did. He’d followed them to their suspect’s place of residence and when he noticed the suspect trying to make a run for it in his truck palmer collided his car with the other man’s truck which had Gibbs pissed and proud all at the same time. No one could have guessed at the events that were soon to come.

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Shortly after Director Shepard had returned from her vacation a former agent, William Decker, was found dead in his pool. LAPD had ruled it a natural death; heart attack. Tony and Ziva were requisitioned to be the director’s protection detail while attending the funeral in L.A. Once there Shepard had given some comments about Decker before heading to sign the guest log. While there she heard a man asking for someone by the name of Mr. Oshimida. Turning around she snapped some pictures with her cell phone before being met by Tony and Ziva. Meanwhile Ziva didn’t want to be on the protection detail and Tony told her to shut up, but not in so few words and much nicer.

“Director are you ready to go?” Ziva asked as they met Jenny.

“No, actually I’m not.” Jenny told her.

“No rush, you know, we’ll just hang out.” Tony replied.

“No need to wait for me. In fact we’re not due to fly out till tomorrow so why don’t the two of you…” Jenny began before being interrupted by Tony.

“Yes. Sure” Tony said, preemptively.

“Take the rest of the trip off.” Jenny finished.

“Right. Sure.” Tony capitulated, not feeling right about letting Jenny go off on her own but it was an order.

“So you want us to call you a taxi or... You want the car. Of course ‘cause we…we’ll figure something out. Drive safe cause L.A. traffic’s a little weird.” Tony watched as Jenny walked away. His gut was screaming at him to not let her go off on her own but he didn’t want to be seen as being insubordinate. “L.A Baby!” Tony exclaimed as he began to walk away. He planned to visit his cousins since he was here. “Sorry Ziva, I’mma have to cut you loose.” Tony continued walking off.

Ziva followed Tony as he left and ended up grabbing the same taxi. He made the driver stop at their hotel to drop Ziva off before he had the driver take him to his cousin Dom’s. Once there he paid the driver and headed up the drive. He waved to the curious woman across the street. He could hear chattering from the backyard and headed there. He was greeted warmly by Dom and most of the others. He stuck around for a bit but his gut was bothering him so he told them he needed to leave. Dom offered to give him a ride back to his hotel and he took him up on the offer. Once there he went in and changed before heading to the pool where he found Ziva lounging with a book. He deliberately took her photo just to piss her off before seeing if she wanted to take a cruise around L.A. She made the comment about not having a car but Tony had already fixed that, renting another car, one that was fast and more his style. As they were driving Ziva voiced her worries about Jenny and Tony told her to call Jenny. Tony had at first tried to play things off but Ziva was insisting so he handed her his phone.

Ziva still figured Jenny was hiding something from them and Tony decided to say it was a sex life and make a comment about Ziva’s lack of a sex life. Unfortunately Ziva wasn’t convinced but Tony managed to get her to relax for a bit. Eventually Ziva had Tony find the director’s car, which they found by a beach that Tony recognized rather well. He even recognized one of the cars in the lot, other than the director’s. There were plenty of restaurants around so Tony figured that Jenny was in one eating. As they were leaving the lot Tony noticed the cop car and its flashing lights. That was never a good sign and if his gut had been screaming before it was kicking and screaming now, plus he had a very bad feeling about this whole situation. Upon heading down to the beach from the boardwalk and parking lot area they found a dead body, one which they recognized. It was Sasha, William Decker’s girlfriend. While talking with the LAPD officer on scene Ziva made comments about Sasha possibly being murdered and Tony had to take her aside and order her to leave the director out of the investigation. Tony wished that Kate had been the one to come as she was originally the one chosen to go with him. At least she would have been more in tune with him than Ziva was. Unfortunately Kate had taken bereavement leave due to the sudden death of one of her brothers. Ziva was the second choice and so he had to deal with her, no matter how much she got on his nerves or pissed him off.

They called the director and told her about the death of Sasha Gordon, Decker’s girlfriend. She’d told her that she was fine and Ziva’s tone had even pissed her off. Ziva felt she was lying but Tony explained it away as her being fine. Since Jenny hadn’t used the duress word Tony wanted to let it go. He knew something wasn’t right but he also knew that if Jenny didn’t want them around it meant she didn’t want them getting involved. He, better than anyone, knew it was a bad idea to get involved in one of Jenny’s personal wars. He hadn’t even gotten involved like she had wished and he was **still** accused of murder. Ziva wanted to call Gibbs but he managed to talk her out of it and into a compromise.

_~ “Agent McGee.”_

“What took you so long? Were you sitting at my desk?” Tony asked.

_“No.”_

“You’re lying.”

_“Tony, what do you want?”_

“Your advice.” Ziva chimed in.

_“You lost the director didn’t you?”_

“No.” Tony said, affronted.

_“Now you’re lying.”_

“You were sitting at my desk.

“We did not lose the director. We just…we just don’t know where she is.” Ziva exclaimed, getting angry.

_“Gibbs is gonna kill you guys.”_

“Alright, calm down McGee. Don’t get your panties in a twist. We just talked to her, she said she’s fine. She just said she needed a little alone time.” Tony explained.

“We’re just worried she might be in duress.” Ziva threw in.

_“Woah, woah, woah, did she use the duress word?”_

“No.” Ziva reluctantly said.

_“Oh. Well then she probably is fine.”_

“Thank you. The great McOz has spoken.” Tony said, looking at Ziva in triumph.

“I need you to trace her cell.” Ziva told him.

_“You want me to trace the director’s cell? Forget it!” McGee exclaimed._

“Gibbs is not gonna like that.” Ziva commented, almost offhandedly.

_“I thought you said you weren’t gonna call him.”_

“We won’t. If you trace the director’s cell.” Ziva told him.

“Alright.” McGee capitulated before beginning to trace her cell.

When he found nothing he said he’d trace her phone from the last call she made and once he found it he called Tony back and told him where it had last received a call and sent the address to Tony’s PDA. They headed towards the Diner that McGee had said was where they were heading but had to stop at a gas station to get gas. Ziva tried to argue with him that they would have made it but tony knew better that they wouldn’t have made it. They ended up slightly lost before noticing the diner and a very familiar vehicle, one they had seen at the gas station. The parked and headed towards the front door when Tony noticed the broken window. He pulled his gun and as they entered the diner they found several bodies strewn across the floor, one of which was Director  
Jenny Shepard’s. He knew he shouldn’t have let her go off on her own. He knelt and checker he pulse but she was gone. Her phone began ringing and Tony picked it up, seeing Gibbs name on the caller ID he answered it.

 _“Jenny? Jenny? You there?”_ Gibbs voice came through the speaker of the phone.

“No, boss. The director’s gone. She’s dead. Shot. She went off on her own, Gibbs.” Tony told him, his voice betraying the shock and upset he was feeling.

 _“Stay there. I’m on my way. I’ll catch the first flight out. You stay with her body, DiNozzo.”_ Gibbs told him, wondering what the hell had happened.

“Got it, boss.” Tony told him before hanging up.

Tony waited with Ziva and when Gibbs called a few hours later he told them to stay there and wait for him. He had called SecNav and told him what he knew. When he got there Vance was there and had told Ziva and Tony to start processing the scene even though Gibbs had ordered them to wait. He got what they knew and headed out, telling Tony to oversee Vance’s investigation. The way Vance had said it had pissed him off, he knew Tony was upset over Jenny’s death and was blaming himself but he didn’t know how to tell Tony it wasn’t his fault and to not blame himself. He headed back to the geas station where he was met by Franks. Meanwhile back in DC Gibbs called Ducky and told him the news. Abby was worried something had happened and was bugging McGee when Ducky showed up. He tried to tell them everything was alright when Gibbs called him and told him the news.

“Who?” McGee asked, recognizing the look on Ducky’s face.

“Jenny.” Ducky said. Abby gasped, upset and McGee was shocked.

Things began to snowball from there. Vance had flown back with the bodies and the next day Tony and Ziva arrived. After talking with Franks Gibbs headed back to D.C. Abby was upset over Jenny’s death, they all were. Abby had hugged all of them, and Tony was becoming snappish and rude. Jenny’s death had hit him harder because he felt it was his fault. McGee had tried to tell him it wasn’t his fault and Gibbs told him the same thing. Tony didn’t believe it but he tried not to show it. Gibbs could tell though, he’d always been able to read Tony just as Tony was able to read him most of the time. Once the ball had begun rolling they found out that Jenny had actually not left Paris as clean. She’d been unable to take out her mark and no-one had been any the wiser. Gibbs went off on his own, planned to have everything end once and for all in Jenny’s own home. Franks ended up shooting Svetlana instead of Gibbs. They then went about setting the townhouse ablaze, making it look like an accident before calling it in. The official reports would show that Jenny Shepard had died in her home due to smoke inhalation. The day of the funeral Vance called Gibbs, Tony, Ziva and McGee into his office. SecNav had made him the new Director of NCIS.

“Officer David. The Liaison position with NCIS is being terminated. You’re going home.” Vance said, looking at Ziva. He then turned to McGee.

McGee. I’m moving you across to the Cyber Crimes Unit. You’ll be working with Officer Holsworth, starting tomorrow. DiNozzo.” He said turning to Tony.

“Sir.”

“You’ve been reassigned. Agent Afloat, USS Ronald Reagan. Pack your bags, you fly out tomorrow. Agent Gibbs.” He said, walking around his desk to hand Gibbs three folders. “Meet your new team.” He finished, smirking.

He watched as the former team left to ready themselves for their new assignments. He deliberately sent Ziva and Tony as far away as possible.

Tony headed to his apartment to begin packing and readying himself to leave. He knew most of his stuff would end up going into storage; he had no idea how long the Agent Afloat assignment would last. He’d just finished getting things set up when his personal cell rang. He looked at the caller ID to see Gibbs’ name flashing on it. He answered the phone tersely and after a very short conversation, grabbed his bags and headed out to Gibbs’ house. Once there he stepped out of his car and walked up to the door. He debated about just walking in when that choice was taken from him by Kelly opening the door and throwing herself at him. She was crying. Gibbs must have told her what had happened. He managed to get her to calm down so they could go inside instead of making a scene on the front porch. Once there he sat down with her on the couch, she clung to him telling him the same thing.

“I don’t want you to go. Why is Vance sending you away? Why didn’t dad stop it? Please, don’t go.”

“Kelly, I have to. It’s not like it was my choice. I think Vance is punishing me. Hey, your dad will get me back here. Have faith in him.” He told her wiping her eyes of the tears. Gibbs walked in at that point, face weary. It looked as if he’d been through hell, more so then the whole time they were trying to find Jenny’s killer.

“You may be right DiNozzo. Vance is punishing everyone involved, including me. Why else would he tear apart my team?”

“Maybe, Gibbs. McGee gets to stay in D.C though. Why is he sending only me and Ziva as far away as possible?” Tony asked.

“To punish me and make it as hard as possible for me to reform my team.” Gibbs told him, collapsing on the other side of Kelly.

“What about Kate?”

“I don’t know. Not even sure he knows she’s alive since it wasn’t advertised and she’s on bereavement leave.” Gibbs told him.

They sat in silence for a while before changing the subject. They didn’t want to think of their team, their family, being torn apart by a vindictive director with a grudge. Gibbs made Cowboy Style steak for the three of them and told Tony he’d make sure to take care of his things, even if it meant bringing some of it to the house. Tony’s cars would stay in the garage except the Bronco, which Kelly was fond of driving. After dinner they relaxed before heading to bed; Tony was tired and missed the significant look Kelly gave her dad and the whispered words of ‘tell him.’

Once he woke up reality set in. He was being sent away and there was nothing Gibbs could do about it. He had tried to talk Vance out of it but Vance had laughed him off. Gibbs had stayed behind and that’s why he called Tony to come over, to tell him in person everything that had happened after him, McGee and Ziva had left. Gibbs didn’t really plan to try to get Ziva back on his team too hard. The main ones he was concerned about were Tony and McGee since Kate’s position was still up in the air. Gibbs cooked them all a large breakfast and then him and Kelly drove with Tony to the port that USS Reagan was docked at. They wanted to see him off and for Vance to know that Gibbs wasn’t going to take his reassignment of his team lying down. He would fight Vance every step of the way to get Tony back to D.C. and McGee out of Cybercrimes. Ziva he wasn’t too concerned about, he knew he plane left soon but had no intentions of seeing her off. Tony was his main concern for the moment. Once Tony had boarded the UUS Reagan and was out of sight he trudged back to his truck, Kelly following behind. He hoped that Tony wouldn’t have to be Afloat for very long.

TBC…

AN: Hope ya’ll liked the chapter. Tony has now been sent Afloat and Gibbs is going to try his damndest to get him back ashore ASAP. Things are about to really heat up so I hope that ya’ll are looking forward to the twists and turns in store for the team. I MAY be twisting the episode order and/or the episode contents around in the next few chapters so be prepared for confusion. As always; comments, reviews and constructive criticism are welcomed. Flames are not and will be used to create lovely bon fires and flamers will be shipped off to Purgatory, courtesy of Koenma.


	27. Chapter Twenty-Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbetaed; all mistakes are my own.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or any other recognizable characters.

** Chapter Twenty-Six **

It had been a few weeks since Tony’s departure and Gibbs had been on Vance’s ass to let him bring Tony home. Kate had returned a week after the whole team had split up, even though she had attended Jenny’s funeral she had gone home to be with her family while they grieved. When Kate had shown up she had glared at Michelle Lee, who was in her seat and asked her what the hell she thought she was doing. Lee had begun stuttering and Kate had told her to move or else. She had just sat down when Langer and Keating, the other two memers of Gibbs’ new team, had walked in and taken their seats, seats that belonged to Tony and McGee respectively. Abby had called her but she couldn’t understand a word she had been saying so didn’t know what was going on. Gibbs walked in then and looked relieved to see her, then looked up at Vance with a glare that Kate had thought was solely reserved for suspects. Vance was wondering why he was seeing dead people at this point and came down to find out wht was going on. It was not pretty when he found out that she had not died like everyone thought. He got this unholy gleeful look in his eyes until Kate flat out told him to shove it.

“Director,” she said, sugary sweet before her voice turned hard and unforgiving, “Don’t even try it. I know people in more powerful places then you do. I used to protect the president for God’s sake! I know what you did and you are just lucky I was on leave. I DON’T appreciate coming home to find that the team I TRUST with my life has been split on the only remaining one is our Boss. I suggest you keep your meddling, vindictive nose out of my career. Understood?”

“Of course, Agent Todd.” He said, baffled before leaving the bullpen. She whirled on Gibbs next.

“You better be working on Plans to get them back here. Yes, even Ziva. She may have been forced upon us but she obviously shouldn’t be anywhere near her _father_.” She spit the word father out like a curse before continuing, “Tony or McGee first. Save Ziva for last. That’s my punishment for pissing me off by flirting with Tony. She’s a good agent but sometimes she has no concept of personal boundaries. Now I will reacquaint myself with my desk then be visiting Abby and Ducky.”

Kate did just that, removing anything of Lee’s before settling at her desk. About an hour later she headed down to Autopsy to visit Ducky and form some of her own plans before heading for Abby’s lab. She was bombarded with a very excited goth who she calmed down and spent most of her day down there. No cases came in but Abby had received a post card from Tony.

When Gibbs got home that night Kelly gave him the same look she had been giving him ever since Tony’s departure, one of disappointment and sorrow.

“I emailed Papà today and got a postcard from him. He’s blaming himself still.” She said.

Gibbs felt a pang in his heart every time Tony was mentioned. She’d started calling Tony Papà shortly after he’d left. He wasn’t sure if she’d called him that in her emails or letters though. He just looked at her.

“Papà’s drinking again. Heavily. Says hi. When are you bringing him home?”

“I don’t know Kelly. Vance keeps giving me the same bullshit storyline about it not being punishment for them but a mole hunt ordered by SecNav. I don’t believe him. I’m trying, Kels, I really am but Vance is a stubborn asshole.”

“Why not just ask SecNav?”

“I can’t get ahold of him. How heavily?”

“Try harder!” she screamed at him before looking upset. “Detrimentaly. As in wakes up with a hangover every day heavily.” She told him, sighing forlornly.

“Tell him I’m trying to bring him back as quickly as possible. Tell him Kate threatened Vance too.” He chuckled as he remembered that morning’s conversation.

“What did she threaten him with?” Kelly asked, laughing.

“The President.” He smiled at her wide-eyed look.

“Go Kate!” she exclaimed before asking him a question she had so far not voiced, “Are you going to tell him when he comes home?”

“Kelly…” he sighed, he should have seen it coming.

“Don’t Kelly me, Dad. Papà deserves to know. Tell him!”

He just gave her a look that said everything. She stood up and gave him a taste of his own medicine.

***wack***

“Ouch. Kelly!” he exclaimed in shock, he never hit anyone that hard.

“You deserved it. Quit hiding and take a chance dad. You might be surprised.” She told him before walking out of the room.

He sighed but conceded she was right. It didn’t mean he would tell Tony what he’d wanted to for years.

Before he knew it Tony had been gone for three months and Kelly had given him a total of six headslaps. Maybe he was being an idiot about telling Tony. He just hoped that Kelly never told Tony about her smacking him on the back of the head. Kate was the only one that knew what to do when Gibbs gave an order and it was wearing on Gibbs’ nerves. He wanted his team back but Leon was still holding out and refusing to bring them back. He knew Kate and Abby even wanted Ziva back though Gibbs could care less about her.

They ended up getting a call out to a dead body and things really began unraveling. Gibbs had managed to get Leon to promise to bring his team back because of that case. Apparently someone in NCIS was blackmailing their vic. He talked to McGee and then talked to Tony through McGee. Tony had been transferred from the Reagan to the Seahawk and he was more than ready to come home. He’d used code words that Gibbs remembered well as Tony’s duress words from cases they had worked before Kate had become a member of the team, back when it was just the two of them. Words and phrases like feed the chickens, Pa, shifting gears, hi, mom, family car, my car and on and on. McGee thought he was going insane but Gibbs knew better. Tony was ready to jump overboard and in serious need of rescuing from the hell that was life as an Agent Afloat. The case came to a close when Langer supposedly tried to kill Michelle Lee. Gibbs knew Langer was being set up because he had trained Langer himself before he quit NCIS and moved to the FBI; he’d requested to be moved back to NCIS because he didn’t like the way the FBI did things. Gibbs had been the one to put in a good word for Langer; that was four months before Jenny was killed. He watched as Michelle was moved back to the legal department and Abby came in with McGee. Now all they needed was Tony and their original team would be back together; maybe then Gibbs would work on getting Ziva back. For now, though, It would be just him, Kate and McGee.

That night Gibbs went home the same as he had ever since Tony had deployed as Agent Afloat. Kelly had just received an email for Tony and he smiled at her exuberance. She glared at him the same as she had for the last four months. He couldn’t wait for Tony’s time as Agent Afloat to be over if he couldn’t get Tony back before then, which he planned to try his hardest to get the younger agent back.

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 A week later and Tony called him because a Petty Officer had done a dive off the tail of the Seahawk and his wife needed to be informed. When Kate and McGee went to inform her of her husband’s death they found her dead on the living room floor and called Gibbs and Ducky to inform them. Once they had finished their investigation at the house they headed back to the Navy Yard and found Abby prepping Tony’s desk for his return, whenever that was. Gibbs headed up to see Vance since he had called him up there earlier.

“Husband overboard, wife murdered. Big Coincidence.” Vance said as Gibbs walked in without knocking.

“That why you called me up here?” Gibbs asked.

“You’re a man down.”

“Noticed.”

“And you want DiNozzo back. Agent DiNozzo has three more months on the Seahawk. After that, we’ll look for the right fit.”

“Fits right here.” Gibbs said, he was sick of Vance giving him the run-around.

“Two San Diego agents. Both good men.” Vance said handing him two files.

“I’m sure they are.” Gibbs said as he just looked at the files.

“You decide.” Vance told him as he threw the files across the table at Gibbs. “Or if you like, I will.” Gibbs took the files reluctantly, a plan forming in his mind as he left.

While Gibbs and the remainder of his team were investigating the case from DC Tony was investigating on the Seahawk. Keating had changed everything concerning McGee’s computer and he couldn’t get the file to show up on the plasma. Gibbs went to talk to Tony and Abby wanted to go with him but Gibbs managed to waylay her and headed towards MTAC until he stopped suddenly and turned around, finding Kate following him. Kate asked if he wanted her to go with him to talk to Tony and he just gave her a look all too well. After talking with Tony he headed to the director’s office. McGee had come in and said there had been a very recent charge on their dead man’s credit card.

As Gibbs walked in to the director’s office he tossed the two folders on Vance’s desk before saying, “Two good men.”

“Two of my best.” Vance replied.

“I put in a call to the Columbia National Police in Carteghena. They’re looking in to Lieutenant Evans’ credit card charges.” Gibbs told him.

“He could’ve lost the card. Could’ve had it stolen before he boarded.”

“Or Lieutenant Evans is still alive.” Gibbs argued.

“Well that’s hard to imagine, they were a hundred miles off shore when he went overboard.”

“DiNozzo spent two weeks in Carteghena doing threat assessments. He knows the city.” Gibbs told the director.

“One day, then he flies back to the carrier.” Gibbs began to walk away when Vance questioned, “You didn’t read these files did you?”

“Like I said, two good men.”

“Your choice?” Vance asked him.

“DiNozzo. You sent Ziva to Israel to follow up on a lead. You sent McGee to the basement to crack a code. There is no reason to assign DiNozzo to a carrier.” Gibbs told him, still not believing that Vance hadn’t sent Tony afloat to punish him.

“Seven years as an agent. I figured it was about time.”

“You think he screwed the pooch in LA. That it? You sent him to sea to punish him, Leon?” Gibbs queried, still pissed.

“Your choice is noted.” Vance replied in lieu of a proper answer and Gibbs walked out.

Meanwhile Tony had headed to Cartagena to track down the lead McGee had found and ended up finding Lieutenant Evans’ body, courtesy of a man using Evans’ credit card. He called Gibbs to tell him before calling the coroner. Gibbs went to MTAC to speak with the captain of the Seahawk and Vance before being sent to Cartagena to help Tony along with Kate.

McGee was sitting at his desk when Gibbs’ phone began to ring. He stood up and walked over to the older agent’s desk and answered it.

“Agent Gibbs' desk.” He said.

_~ “McGee?”_

“Tony, back on dry land.” McGee replied to the caller, that turned out to be Tony.

_~ “Yeah, it’s a tropical paradise really. Just like the Blue Lagoon, except no white sand beaches, magical waterfall and definitely no Brooke Shields.”_

“I’ve got some good news for you.”

_~ “You’re coming to relieve me.” Tony queried._

“No, but Vance sent…” McGee began before being interrupted by Tony.

_~ “Tequila? Cause I’m going to need at least a case to get through the next three months here.”_

Vance came up behind McGee and asked, “Is that DiNozzo?” at McGee’s nod he turned the speaker phone on. Tony had been speaking the whole time.

_~ “…Everyone hates me. You know what you better make it two cases. With Director Vance running things I’m going to be agent afloat-ing into my sixties. How’s it going there anyway?” Tony rambled._

“Oh, couldn’t be better DiNozzo.” Vance said in reply.

_~ “Ah, Director Vance…I was just uh, just telling McGee how much I missed everyone.” Tony said, backpedalling._

“Sit rep.” Vance demanded.

_~ “Federales turned Lieutenant Evans’ body over to the Cartagena Morgue. I just paid a visit to the coroner. He’s insisting on doing the autopsy himself.” Tony told them._

“We need that report.” Vance told him.

_~ “Well that’s easier said than done. This guy… doesn’t care much for Americans, unless it’s just me.”_

“We’ll find out soon enough. Gibbs and Kate flew out last night.” Vance informed Tony.

_~ “To Cartagena?”_

“Yeah, Tony that’s what I was trying to tell you.” McGee interjected into the conversation.

_~ “Well when do they get here!?” Tony asked._

“Already have.” Tony heard Gibbs say from behind him. He turned around and smiled. He was so glad to see Gibbs and Kate.

Tony led them to the morgue and as they walked through the doors he talked.

“Let me guess. You guys caught a bad case of DiNozzo-itis and had Vance send you down south.”

“DiNozzo-itis, sounds venereal, Tony.” Kate said in jest.

“Okay, don’t admit it. I know you missed me. I missed you Boss.” Tony said.

“Yeah, I know, DiNozzo.” Gibbs said before answering his phone and walking off. Tony and Kate continued to talk.

“What?” Tony asked when he noticed Kate’s stare.

“You seem, um…different.” Kate told him.

“Taller? Hotter?” Tony asked, smirking his cocky smirk.

“Older.” Kate said.

“Well, it’s been over three months.” He replied to her remark.

“You still beating yourself up over Jenny?”

“Not as much as I used to.” He said, looking away from her.

“Drinking?”

“Not as much as I used to.”

Kate touched his shoulder to get him to look at her again and said, “You could have called.”

Gibbs walked back over to them, “COD’s launching in ten minutes from the Seahawk. You got an hour DiNozzo.” He told them.

“Okay, Listen, I was thinking we should let Kate handle the coroner. I’ve got a hunch.” Tony said. Gibbs nodded minutely.

“Got a hunch huh?” Gibbs said noticing the poster that looked enough like Kate or even Ziva while the coroner talked with Kate.

“The powers of observation.” Tony said before continuing to read the coroner’s report on how their Lieutenant died. Blunt Force Trauma, just like his wife.

They headed back to the Seahawk and continued their investigation from Tony’s room aboard the Seahawk. They asked to speak with the officer of the deck as well as the only person that had seen Evans. Tony and Kate headed out to find Kaplan, the man who had seen Evans, but couldn’t fin him. As they were leaving Kate noticed a very familiar picture of her in a wet t-shirt. He had supposedly deleted it and she was pissed that he lied to her about it. It’s not like he could tell her the truth, that Gibbs had had Kelly send it and several other pictures of the team to him. Tony ended up doing a news-type announcement and placing it on a loop when their search for Kaplan turned up nothing. They headed back to Tony’s room and Gibbs asked if he had a Plan B. He didn’t but he tried to say he did when the phone suddenly rang. Kaplan was in sick bay. Kaplan was place in a medically induced coma and was being med-evacc’ed to DC. Gibbs had the doctor on board test for Anthrax but it came up negative, instead Kaplan had been dosed with Morphine. It turned out that Kaplan wasn’t their man as he had left DC two days before Lindi Evans was killed. It was shortly after that that they found out that Henley Taylor, the corpsman, was the one to be behind both Evans’ deaths and he was on the COD already. Gibbs headed for the plane and tricked Taylor into falling when they took flight from the flight deck. They were standing around Taylor while he was being tended to when Tony came in.

“COD's launching in 10, Boss.” Tony said as he leaned against the door to sick bay.

“Well then grab your gear.” Gibbs told Tony.

“My gear?” Tony queried.

“Yeah. Your collar, you ride him home DiNozzo.” Gibbs said, smirking.

“Home?”

“Home.” Kate said.

Tony took off running yelling, “Make a hole! Coming through!”

Gibbs smiled as he heard Tony’s way of getting people to move out of the way. Once back in DC he headed in to MTAC. When he came out Vance was standing and looking down on his team.

“Ellis wants to know if he’s getting his agent afloat back.” Gibbs said to Vance.

“Request hit my desk today.” Vance told Gibbs.

“The team needs him Leon.”

“I’ve already made my decision.” Vance said as Gibbs began to head for the stairs to the bullpen. He called out to him, “And in answer to your question. It was never punishment.” Gibbs didn’t believe that in any way but would let it slide for now. He headed back down the stairs where Tony, Kate and McGee were talking.

Abby came rushing in from the elevator and yelled happily.

“Tony! You’re back!” Abby launched herself at Tony, pulling him into a crushing hug.

“In the flesh.” Tony told her, smiling.

“For real? Like total real? Like pinky promise permanent real?” Abby asked, Gibbs looked over her shoulder wondering what he would tell her.

“Reassigned to DC, effective immediately.” Tony said, noticing Gibbs look he then said, “Vance just told me.”

“Never thought I’d say this Tony, but it’s nice to have you back.” McGee commented, glad that Tony was finally back.

“Nice? It’s like spectacular. I kept every one of your postcards and I have a whole DiNozzo wall in my office.” Abby said, still excited.

“It was a long three months and I have to say it’s great to be back, not that I didn’t think I wasn’t coming back…” Tony said before being cut off by Abby.

“So anyway sister Rosita bowled a 260 last month. And I watched Titanic finally and it sinks in the end, very weird…”

Tony smiled, listening to Abby as he shook Gibbs’ outstretched hand. He knew that Gibbs wanted to talk to him and he agreed. Once he’d been caught up by Abby she asked him something he wasn’t sure about himself.

“Tony, what about your apartment? Did you find someplace to stay?”

“I had to get rid of it.” He told her, he hadn’t been able to keep the place and was actually glad to see it gone.

“Do you need a ride somewhere Tony? You could always stay with me.” She said.

“Nah, I’m good Abs. Thanks for the offer though.” He smiled at her to take any sting out that might have been in his words.

“Okay. Well I’m heading home. Goodnight Tony, McGee, Kate, Gibbs.” She said as she left followed by McGee and Kate.

“You ready, DiNozzo?” Gibbs asked, grabbing his keys and jacket.

“Yeah.” Tony said as he followed Gibbs to the elevator.

Once they had gotten to Gibbs place Tony sat down on the couch while Gibbs grabbed the steaks and two beers from the fridge. He handed Tony one before setting his own down and went to the already lit fireplace to cook the steaks. They ate their meal in relative silence before Gibbs turned to Tony.

“Tony?”

“Yeah, Gibbs?”

“I’m glad your back. I really did miss ya, but I’ve also been thinkin…” Gibbs trailed off uncertainly.

“About what?” Tony asked him,

“Something Kelly said. Okay well more like she’s been on my ass for years to tell you something.” Gibbs said, once again not finishing his thought which caused Tony to prompt him again.

“Tell me what?” Tony asked, curious.

Gibbs was silent for a bit and Tony let him gather his thoughts.

“Been wantin’ to tell ya…well…ah fuck it. I’m no good at words.” Gibbs said before leaning forward and brushing his lips lightly across Tony’s before pulling away and looking at Tony, trying to find out if he’d just royally screwed everything up.

“Seems Kelly’s pretty smart.” He said before pulling Gibbs into another chaste kiss. Breaking the kiss Gibbs searched Tony’s eyes and face.

Tony smiled at him and Gibbs pulled him in to another kiss, this one deeper than the previous ones had been. Tony gasped lightly when he felt the tip of Gibbs’ tongue run across his lips. He opened them wider and allowed Gibbs’ tongue entrance to his mouth, deepening the kiss even more. When they broke apart this time they were both panting slightly.

“Stay?” Gibbs asked Tony.

“Where else would I go?” Tony asked.

Gibbs smiled and pulled Tony to his feet.

“C’mon Tony, it’s been a long week.” Gibbs told him as they headed for the stairs. Once they had reached the second floor Tony went to veer off towards the guest bedroom when Gibbs grabbed his arm.

“Where ya going? Bedroom’s this way.” Gibbs said, pointing towards his own room.

“I just thought….well…” Tony fumbled slightly over his words. He hadn’t expected Gibbs to want to sleep in the same room as him right away.

“We’ve been dancing around each other a long time, Tony. It just took me longer to see it and even longer to admit it to myself. C’mon, we’re both tired. We can talk more when we wake up.” Gibbs told him, smiling before leading him into his room. They got ready for bed and crawled in, Tony curling up next to Gibbs. It was nice to sleep next to someone again. Tony had missed dry land and Gibbs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tony woke up on his side with Gibbs’ arm thrown over his waist and his hand resting lightly on his stomach. He smiled and groaned when he noticed the time. It was only 0800 and he didn’t need to go in to the office. He felt Gibbs move as he sat up slightly to look at Tony.

“Morning, Tony.”

“Morning.” Tony replied, rolling onto his back before reaching up and pulling Gibbs into a passionate kiss.

Groaning as his erection brushed against an equally hard one he broke the kiss. Gibbs began to nip his jaw and down his neck before moving back up to kiss him again as he thrust lightly against Tony. Gasping, Tony reached out and grabbed Gibbs' arms, pulling the other man closer to him. Gibbs hand moved down and began toying with one of Tony’s nipples, pinching it lightly before moving to its twin. Tony pulled away panting and Gibbs took the opportunity to lean down and run his tongue over the nipple that his hand wasn’t busy playing with. Tony groaned and reached for the hem of Gibbs’ t-shirt to pull it off of the older man. Gibbs leaned back and allowed Tony to remove his shirt before claiming the younger man’s lips in another kiss. He grasped the back of Tony’s neck with one hand so that he could deepen the kiss.

Tony allowed his hands to roam the expanse of Gibbs’ back before he moved one hand around to pinch one of Gibbs’ nipples in retaliation. Gibbs groaned and broke the kiss, which gave Tony the perfect opportunity to nip his way down Gibbs’ jaw and neck. He flipped the older man onto his back and continued moving down before stopping at one nipple, licking it before pulling it into his mouth to suck. Gibbs gasped and thrust his hips up into Tony who ground down, their cocks brushing together. Tony pulled away and blew on the nipple he had been tormenting before moving to pay the same treatment to the opposite nipple. When he pulled away the next time Gibbs grasped the back of his neck and Tony moved up to kiss the older man deeply, their tongues tangling and dancing, hips moving lazily against each other.

Tony graned as one of Gibbs’ hands found and proceeded to torment one of his nipples. Gibbs took the opportunity to flip them once again and straddle the younger man.

“No fair.” Tony whined slightly before gasping as Gibbs leaned in and whispered seductively in his ear.

“Turn-about is fair play, Tony.”

Gibbs reached down and helped to rid Tony of his boxers before ridding himself of his own boxers and sweats. He leaned forward and aligned their erections, gasping as they met skin against skin. He began a slow thrusting movement, rubbing their cocks together before he kissed Tony.

“God, Jethro!” Tony gasped loudly once Gibbs had released him from the kiss.

Gibbs reached his hand down and grasped them both in his hand, Tony’s own hand joining his on their cocks. They continued to thrust together, slick skin sliding against slick skin.

“Jethro, feels so good. Wanted this for so long.” Tony gasped in between kisses.

“Mmmm, me too, Tony.”

Their movements began to speed up and Tony could feel the tightening in his balls that signaled he was close.

“Oh god. So close. Jethro!” Tony cried out as he came in hot spurts over their joined hands and their stomachs.

“Tony,” Gibbs groaned as his own orgasm hit.

Gasping he collapsed next to Tony and pulled him into his arms, kissing him languidly as they came down from their high. Once they had regained their breathing Gibbs smiled at Tony and kissed him again.

“Maybe I should go away more often if it leads to these kinds of amazing things.” Tony said, smiling.

“Don’t you dare. Three months, Tony. Three months of hell putting up with a team I couldn’t trust and Kelly’s hurt looks and Abby’s kicked puppy routine. I’ll never live through that again. You aren’t going anywhere. Ya hear me?” Gibbs said.

“Yeah, I hear you…Jethro. I really missed everyone. Where is Kelly anyway? I would’ve thought she’d have been here last night.” Tony said, stealing another kiss from Gibbs.

“She and Maddie got a place together. Maddie got an offer from a local veterinary practice and decided to stay in DC. Kelly’s gotten some offers from a few different places as well. Thought she told you?” Gibbs told him before levering himself out of bed.

“Where you going? And no she didn’t” Tony queried, standing up as well.

“Shower. You comin, Tony?”

“Think I just did.” Tony said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Gibbs just shook his head and started the shower.

Once they had showered and dressed in comfortable jeans and shirts they headed downstairs for breakfast and coffee. Kelly showed up about an hour later and practically strangled Tony when she saw him standing in the basement with Gibbs. Laughing Tony hugged her before releasing her and smiling. He didn’t notice Gibbs smirk as a plan formed in his mind. Suddenly Gibbs wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him back against him causing Tony to squawk indignantly and exclaim, “Jethro!”

Laughing Gibbs nipped his ear gently before turning Tony’s head to steal a kiss. They were interrupted by an excited squeal from Kelly.

“It’s about time! So does this mean I can call you Papà all the time?”

“Kelly!” Tony exclaimed while Gibbs grinned that little crooked grin of his.

“Just tell her yes, Tony. She doesn’t hold back when she hits.” Gibbs gave Tony the advice he’d learned the hard way.

“I…uh…I guess it does.” Tony said, sheepishly.

“Yay!” Kelly exclaimed before wrapping both of them in a hug.

Pulling back she smiled before slapping them both upside the head.

“Ow! What was that for?!” Tony exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head as he did so.

“For not telling me that you were back.” Kelly complained, smirking at the two of them. “Though I can see why dad didn’t tell me since he obviously decided to take my advice.” She smirked as Tony blushed and her dad glared at her.

“Kelly…” Gibbs growled.

“Yeah, glad you talked him into it too. I never would have been able to take the chance that he did.” Tony said, looking at Gibbs as he said it.

Gibbs smiled, things were finally looking up and he could only hope they stayed that way, even when they returned to work and had to act like nothing was going on.

TBC…

AN: Phew *wipes forehead* That was a hard chapter to write; especially the smutty parts. I am no good at smut or sex scenes. I hope I was able to keep them somewhat in character and that people like my first attempts at a more in-depth smut scene. I was originally going to have them jump each other’s bones right away but thought better of it as they are just starting a relationship and while sex is good, fantastic even, those two seemed to want to wait a bit first. Doesn’t mean they can’t do other sexual things ^_~ As always all comments, reviews and constructive criticism is welcomed but flames are not. Flames will be used to melt the snow and ice surrounding me and flamers will be given to Aunt Petunia…err…I mean that crazy necromancer Wiccan that gives Wiccans everywhere a bad name, Marnie.


	28. Chapter Twenty-Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbetaed; all mistake are my own.  
> Disclaimer: I don’t own so no sense suing.  
> AN: This is it people! We finally get a hard-core sex scene! This is my first in-depth sex scene so I hope ya’ll like it.

** Chapter Twenty-Seven **

The rest of the day Tony, Kelly and Gibbs spent relaxing and catching up on what had been missed while Tony was Afloat. They worked on Gibbs’ boat, Tony cooked dinner for the three of them, Kelly talked about Maddie and her new boyfriend and her classes, and Tony and Gibbs shared many small kisses and looks that Kelly pretended not to notice or she would make gagging noises just to be a smart ass. Once Kelly had left and dinner had been put away, what little there was left of it, Tony and Gibbs sat down on the couch to watch an old movie on Tony’s TV, which Gibbs hadn’t wanted to let be put into storage because they had no clue how long Tony would be gone. Tony ended up falling asleep, his head pillowed on Gibbs’ shoulder. Gibbs smiled down at Tony and lightly shook him awake enough so that they could head upstairs to bed.

The next morning Tony awoke to the smell of coffee much later than he had the previous morning. He reached a hand over and found the bed empty of Gibbs so he got up and threw on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt in case Kelly was downstairs and headed down himself.

“Morning Jethro.” Tony said as he walked into the kitchen and to the coffee machine. He smiled as Gibbs came up behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist.

“Morning, Tony.” Gibbs said, kissing the back of his neck before spinning him around for a proper kiss.

“Mmmm…” Tony said once Gibbs had released his lips.

“Breakfast’ll be ready soon.” Gibbs said, walking back to the stove where he had eggs and bacon on.

Once they had finished breakfast they sat down to just talk. They needed to talk about how things would o at work and much more.

“What happens on Monday, Jethro? Are we gonna tell anyone other than Kelly about us?” Tony asked as he leaned against the arm of the couch, his legs thrown over Gibbs’.

“Work will be work Tony. I don’t want you re-assigned and with Vance running things you would be if he were to ever get any inkling that we were together. We can tell the team if you want.”

“I know. So act like nothing’s changed between us at work, right? I don’t know, maybe Ducky and Abby.”

“Ducky can keep a secret and so can Abby if need be.”

“I know, that’s why I suggested them two first. Kate will never let me live this down though, especially after the Voss mess.” Tony told him.

“She might give ya hell but you know she means well, Tony.”

“I know. Uhm, Jethro, what about me getting an apartment? Should I?”

“It’s up to you, Tony. It might not be a bad idea to get an apartment just for show. Doesn’t mean you’ll actually be livin’ there. Want you to stay here.”

“Are…uh, are you asking me to move in with you, Jethro?” Tony asked, having quickly become accustomed to using Gibbs’ name instead of Boss or Gibbs.

“Yeah, yeah Tony I am.” Gibbs cast a sideways glance at his Senior Field Agent and Lover. Tony smiled back before leaning in and kissing Gibbs.

Once they had broken apart Gibbs got up and grabbed the classified ads so that they could hunt for a very cheap apartment for Tony, just for show so that they would have a way to fool Vance should he ever look into any accusations that might be made. They’d been looking in the ads for a while when a thought suddenly struck Tony.

“Jethro?”

“Hmmm...”

“What about Rule 12?”

“Kelly told me it needs to be changed.” Gibbs answered distractedly.

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Something about ‘screw the rules, they’re more like guidelines anyway.’ Sounded like one of your movie quotes.” Gibbs told him as he circled a number and showed it to Tony.

“It is, even if it’s been a bit paraphrased. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl; Elizabeth Swann says ‘You’re pirates! Hang the code and hand the rules! They’re more like guidelines anyway.’ to Mr. Gibbs, the first mate of the Black Pearl. And yes, there is quite a lot of irony in the name choices.” Tony told him laughing a bit even while using a rather interesting impression of a female from the British Isles for the pertinent part of the quote.

“Ah. Yeah, so I thought about it and decided she was right. It was time to take a chance and possibly change those rules.”

“Huh. More like make an amendment or two for some of them. Since they are good rules, just a little unclear sometimes.” Tony said, grabbing the paper and dialing the number Gibbs had circled.

Once he’d hung up he smiled and pulled Gibbs into a kiss.

“Found it.” Tony said, having broken the kiss so he could breathe.

“Good.” Gibbs pulled Tony into another kiss until he heard his door open and a voice call out.

“Uncle Jethro? You home?”

“Booth! Shouldn’t you knock first?” a woman’s voice asked.

“Bones, my uncle’s door is **always** open.”

Tony chuckled softly while Gibbs sighed and looked at him curiously before calling out.

“In here, Seeley.”

In trooped four people of which Tony remembered all too well if you didn’t include the young boy with them.

“Hi Uncle Jethro. Bones, you remember my uncle and you should remember Tony. What are you doing here anyway?” Seeley Booth asked.

“Just got reassigned to D.C. early and Jethro offered to let me stay here while I apartment hunted.” Tony said, unsure if Gibbs would want to tell his nephew about them.

“He’s moving in, permanently.” Gibbs said grabbing Tony’s hand as he did so.

Tony watched as Seeley processed the information before his eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

“It’s about time! Kelly finally knock some sense into one of you?”

“Booth, what’s going on?”

“I’ve just gained an uncle, Bones.”

“You can’t just gain an uncle. D.C doesn’t allow marriage between same-sex couples and even then…” Seeley placed a hand over her mouth to stop her from spouting more of her often confusing words.

“She’s getting better at dealing with people but sometimes she still reverts to her squinty nature.” He told the two men on the couch.

“I could tell.” Tony said as Seeley, Temperance with Christine in her arms, and Parker all took seats.

They talked for a while in which Tony ended up being shown how to hold Christine and became Parker’s new best friend. It was rare kids liked Tony but it seemed the FBI Agent’s kids were the exception to that. Once Seeley and his family had left Tony and Gibbs proceeded upstairs, it was Sunday after all and they had to be at work the next morning.

By the time they had gotten their next case Tony had rented an apartment and furnished it with some basic furnishings so that it looked as if he lived there. When they got called out to a crime scene things began to get confusing. Gibbs had taken off without any explanation and it was only later that night that he told Tony why. A senator that he had served with in Desert Storm had been having an affair with their dead naval officer and knew that he would be the prime suspect so he’d called Gibbs that way the press didn’t find out.

Tony had gone upstairs to change into more comfortable clothes when he heard the front door open. The Senator’s wife had shown up and Tony knew why, they had, after all, visited her and her husband at their home to try and discern who had taken the murder weapon from its case. Tony knew that he would want to hide their relationship but he managed to sneak downstairs to the basement and hide in a darkened corner, unnoticed to the woman but he knew Gibbs had seen him by the look he shot him. It was as they were leaving that the senator’s wife gave them a huge break in the case. She had said her husband would never shoot anyone, let alone a woman, in the back. Only the killer would know that kind of information as they had never released that detail to anyone. After another mysterious phone call to Director Vance they found the Senator’s Aid dead of an apparent suicide. Things unraveled even more quickly from there and it was found out that the senator and his wife had each killed someone. One had killed the naval officer and the other had killed the aid and tried to make it look like a suicide. Once the reports had been finished Tony headed home, Gibbs said he wouldn’t be long so Tony ordered Pizza and had it delivered. It had been over a month since he’d returned from the Seahawk and he wanted to take things further than they had so far. This going slow crap was killing him. He loved Gibbs and Gibbs loved him so he didn’t know why they had to go slow, they had been dating for longer than either of them had realized until Kelly had pointed it out three nights ago. They had the weekend off, so no chance of a call out so he planned to spend it relaxing with his lover.

Gibbs got home at the same time the pizza was delivered so he paid before Tony could and took the pizza inside. His younger lover greeted him with a mind-blowing kiss before taking the box of pizza into the living room. Gibbs chuckled and shook his head fondly at his lover’s antics before following him into the living room. They ate their dinner and were reclining on the couch watching something that Gibbs didn’t know when Tony leaned over and captured his lips in a kiss. Gibbs immediately returned the kiss, deepening it, sliding his tongue into Tony’s mouth and his hands into his hair, moaning when Tony’s tongue slid along his and into his mouth.

Gibbs slid his hands down Tony's neck, along his shoulders and down his back, pulling Tony closer to him and wrapping his arms around Tony's waist so that he could pull Tony to straddle him. Both men groaned as their burgeoning erections pressed together through two layers of denim. Sliding his hands down again, Gibbs cupped the firm globes of Tony's ass, enjoying the feel of the taught ass through the cloth of Tony’s pants.

Tony finally broke the kiss, breathless and panting. He gazed at his lover with desire-darkened eyes and reached out and slid his hand down his lover’s chest and grasped his cock through the rough cloth of Gibbs’ Chino’s. Gibbs moaned and thrust his hips trying to get some much wanted friction against his aching cock.

“Tony...” he groaned as Tony lightly stroked him through his pants before suddenly he stopped.

Dropping to his knees, Tony quickly undid the belt, buttons and zipper on Gibbs’ pants, pulling his hardened cock out and wrapping his mouth around the head of the older man’s cock, holding onto the shaft while sucking hard, using his tongue to lick around the head. He then slowly slid his mouth down the entire length of Gibbs’ cock, relishing the grunts and groans that his lover was vocalizing. Grabbing his hips so that he wouldn't thrust too deeply, Tony started sliding his mouth up and down Gibbs’ cock. It didn't take long for him to bring Gibbs to the edge of orgasm but before he could make his lover come Gibbs grabbed his hair and pulled him up and into another soul-wrenching kiss.

Panting, Gibbs pulled away from his lover.

“Bedroom. Now.” He said, standing and leading Tony up the stairs and into their room.

“Jethro…I want you. Want to make love with you.” Tony said, before Gibbs captured his lips in another kiss, sliding his tongue into Tony’s mouth and exploring the familiar cavern.

Gibbs pulled away from Tony and began to slowly undress his lover, unbuttoning his shirt while nipping his jaw and down his neck. He tweaked a nipple between his finger and thumb, causing Tony to gasp and throw his head back, giving Gibbs better access to his throat and neck. Gibbs smiled into the younger man’s neck before pulling back and grasping the back of Tony’s head, pulling him into a soul-searing kiss, thrusting his tongue lazily in and out of his mouth before sealing their lips together.

He reached between them and undid Tony’s belt, before popping the button and sliding the zipper of Tony’s pants down and letting them pool to the floor of their bedroom. He smirked as he realized Tony hadn’t worn any underwear today.

“Commando, Tony?” he asked, a smirk playing on his lips.

“Jethro…” Tony moaned, frustrated.

“I know. You don’t wear underwear very often. Easier access for me.” Gibbs said, capturing his lips for another messy kiss, teeth, lips and tongue meshing together.

Tony moaned into the kiss and reached out to pull Gibbs’ shirt up, breaking the kiss so that he could remove the garment,

“You’ve got too many clothes on.” He said as Gibbs allowed his pants and underwear to drop to the floor when Tony dropped the shirt next to his own clothes.

Tony moved over to the bed and dropped onto it on his back, his erection standing proud. He started to stroke himself, but Gibbs climbed onto the bed and knocked Tony's hand away.

“That's mine,” he growled, leaning down and kissing Tony, while he began to stroke the younger man’s cock. Tony gasped and broke the kiss. He loved it when Gibbs got all possessive on him.

“I want you inside me, Jethro.” Tony managed to get out in-between gasps as Gibbs continued stroking his shaft, adding a twist at the head every so often.

He grinned as Gibbs’ eyes darkened.

“If you're sure?” At Tony's nod of assent, Gibbs reached over to the nightstand, opened the drawer, searched for a second then came up with a tube of lube.

They had already discussed the protection issue. Tony had no intentions of having another lover and neither did Gibbs so he didn’t grab the condoms that were still in the drawer as well. Laying the tube down beside Tony he leaned up and captured his lips in a heated kiss. He managed to open the top and squirt some out onto his fingers before re-capping the tube and tossing tit back down beside them. He positioned his fingers at his lover’s entrance and slowly began to push one in. Tony gasped, breaking the kiss, a wince crossing his face.

At Gibbs’ concerned look Tony said, “Been awhile.”

Gibbs nodded and continued, slowly working first one, then two fingers into Tony’s body. He began twisting and scissoring them before adding a third. Once Tony was ready he slicked his cock with lube before guiding it slowly into Tony’s tight hole, gasping as he did so. Thrusting slowly in and out of Tony’s hot ass, he groaned.

“So hot, Tony. So tight.”

“Jethro…” Tony gasped.

Gibbs groaned and grabbed Tony’s hips, pulling them tighter against him and angling his hips to find that sweet spot. He knew he’d found it when Tony cried out and tightened around him. He began to increase his thrusts and was soon pounding in and out and Tony’s ass, Tony’s legs wrapped around his waist and his hips meeting every thrust.

Tony was moaning, and he’d slipped into a mix of Italian and English.

“Per favore… Jethro…per favore. So close.” Tony said as Gibbs thrust harder, their sweat slicked skin sliding together.

“Tony…” Gibbs groaned.

“Yes! Jethro. Harder, per favore, harder!” Tony cried out as Gibbs nailed his prostate again and again.

Gibbs moaned and reached a hand between their sweat slicked bodies to grasp Tony’s leaking cock and stroke in time with their thrusts.

“Tony…God…so hot, so tight.” Gibbs moaned, stealing a sloppy, open mouthed kiss from Tony.

“I’m…so close, Jethro…close, m’ gonna…”Tony whined deep in his throat, he was so close, he could feel the tingling in his balls that signaled his impending orgasm.

“Jethro!” he screamed as his body clamped down on Gibbs’ thrusting cock and hot spurts of come began to cover his abdomen and Gibbs’ hand.

Gibbs groaned as he felt Tony’s orgasm overcome him, the hot, sticky semen spurting over his hand and his tight, hot ass tightening even further, the muscles contracting around his cock, drawing his own orgasm from him.

“Tony…” Gibbs groaned as he filled his lover’s ass with his come before collapsing to lay in a tangle of sticky limbs next to Tony.

Both men lay still for a few minutes, and then Tony rolled over and wrapped his arms around Gibbs, kissing him lazily.

“Ti amo, Jethro,” Tony said, stroking his lover’s face.

“I love you too, Tony.” Gibbs said, lightly running a hand up and down Tony’s side and hip.

Tony smiled, that true smile that lit his face up so brightly. It was rare for Gibbs to see that smile and he loved making Tony smile like that. Oh, Tony smiled a lot but hardly that bright smile that had first enamored Gibbs so many years ago.

They shared a few lazy kisses until Tony pulled away with a slight grimace.

“We need a shower.” He said, making to stand.

Gibbs let him but, feeling in a playful mood, he grabbed Tony around the waist and pulled him back down for another kiss, making Tony squawk indignantly at being manhandled. Laughing Gibbs stood up and pulled Tony into his arms for another kiss before following him into the attached bathroom.

Once they had showered and dried off they headed back to bed so that they could catch up on some much needed sleep.

TBC…

AN: That’s it! The boys finally got a sex scene. So for all of you asking for one here it is! Hope you enjoyed my first try at an in-depth sex scene with full on penetration as it was my first time writing one. Hope it flowed alright as I had to stop and start this because I’d get an inspiration then my brain would go kaput from too many sexy images in the brain ^_~ As always, comments, reviews and constructive criticism is greatly appreciated but flames are not and will be used to melt the snow from around my car whilst flamers will be given the true death ;) before being fed to some alligators in the everglades ;)


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